Breaking Bad
by erikahhrealmonsters
Summary: [DISCONTINUED] Kat Williams was on tour with her band when the world went to hell. She was left on her own until the group found her. Can this crazy young rockstar help keep them together, or will it all fall apart when some skeletons come out of her closet? Daryl/OC
1. Chapter 1

**Hellooooo! So this is my first ever story...and I have no idea wtf I'm doing LOL. I just figured out how to put in an author's note. I suck. Anyway! Yes, another Daryl/OC fic, but I feel like many stories don't have his character right. And some OC's are just so blah. Like, let's throw a fucking crazy bitch in there and see what goes down! This might suck, but it's almost midnight and I need to be up at six and I just really wanted to get this out finally! So, enjoy!**

**Rated M for sexual shit later on. And lots of swearing.**

**I DON'T OWN THE WALKING DEAD OR ANY CHARACTERS. I ONLY OWN MY OC'S.**

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><p>"WHAT'S UP ALTANTAAA?" I yelled into the microphone after our opening song. I was met with cheers and screams. "How the fuck are ya tonight?"<p>

God I love my job. I get to do what I love with the people I love and travel all over the place while doing it. The band had just started getting big, but I could see that our career was just kicking off. Hell, yesterday were a small band from Boston and today we're selling out giant arenas.

"We are Breaking Bad*, and I wanna thank you all for coming out tonight," I said to the crowd. That's when I took notice of the fans in the arena. There was a good number of them, but not as many as there should've been.

"Shit, I thought this was a sold out show? Where the fuck is everyone?" I asked the fans. There was a mixture of cheers and boos. When it died down, I heard someone yell "SICK!"

"Ah, that's right," I said, "I heard about that. Buncha people getting fucked up and biting each other. But you guys are troopers, huh? You guys won't let any pussy ass virus get in the way of a good fucking time, right?" The crowd roared. "And if any dumb fucker tries to bite you you're gonna punch them in the fucking face, right?"

I actually had heard about the virus the day before the show. Something about people going crazy and biting each other. I mean what the fuck is that? Had to be made by the government. How else would that have happened? Question is, why? What the fuck was the government up to now? Who the fuck knows. All _I _know is that if one motherfucker tries to bite me they're getting booted in the face. I don't give a fuck who it is, no one's putting their nasty teeth anywhere near me.

"Anyway," I continued, "we're gonna go pop on you guys for a second. And don't act like you don't like this song, because _everyone_fucking likes this song! Even if you deny it, I know you do." I laughed. I looked out at the crowd, noticing a mixture of different people. I saw a young Asian guy with a baseball cap in the front row staring up at me with a goofy smile. I winked at him and watched his grin get even bigger. "Well, like I said, this is a pop song, but we decided to change up the music and make it more rock!" I looked over at Kyle as he started playing the guitar.

"_There's a fire starting in my heart  
>reaching a fever pitch and it's bringing me out the dark."<br>_The fans screamed as they recognized the song.  
><em>"Finally I can see you crystal clear<br>go ahead and see me out and I'll lay your shit bare.  
>see how I leave with every piece of you<br>don't underestimate the things that I will do."_

As I sang, I thought of my ex. We had dated for eight months before he cheated on me. I had become a bit busier with the band and was unable to see him as much. Apparently he couldn't handle not having sex anymore and cheated. I mean, really? Who the fuck does that? Especially now. Moron could be dating a famous chick! Whatever. I was traveling the country with millions of adoring fans and he was stuck in his shitty little life. Sucks to suck, right?

"_There's a fire starting in my heart  
>reaching a fever pitch and it's bringing me out the dark.<br>The scars of your love remind me of us  
>they keep me thinking that we almost had it all.<br>The scars of your love they leave me breathless  
>I can't help feeling,<br>We could've had it all."_

As I starting singing the chorus, I noticed something going on in the crowd. A little bit back from the front, it seemed like a space opened up, and the people around it were jumping up and down and waving their arms at us. You would probably think they were just jumping to the song, but the looks on their faces spelled panic.

"Woah, woah, guys hang on." I stopped singing and shushed the band. They all gave me confused looks.  
>"Uh, problem, Kat?" Jake asked me.<p>

I looked out at the people who stopped jumping but were still waving their arms. "Is something wrong out there guys?" I asked them.

One of the guys in the front yelled "I THINK HE'S DEAD!" while pointing at the ground where I could now see that someone was laying crowd gasped in horror and turned to see what was going on. I saw the guy who was on the ground slowly get back up.

"Um, what? He's fine…" Brendan said into his mic.

And that's when the shit hit the fan.

Suddenly, the "dead" guy let out an inhuman snarl and lunged at the man I was talking to. I saw him sink his teeth into the man's neck and rip a chunk out. The man let out a bloodcurdling scream and dropped to the ground.

"What the fuck!" I yelled. This was not fucking happening.

The guy, or whatever the fuck he was, snapped his head up when he heard me. He started looking around as if just realizing where he was. He saw all the people around him staring at him terrified and let out another growl. He turned to the girl next to him and grabbed her arm and took a bite out of her.

"Dude, what the fuck is he doing?" Jake screamed.

"Somebody stop him!"

"Holy shit!"

"What the hell, man?"

Everything around me was a blur and all I could do was watch in horror as the man kept going after more people. And what's worse? The man who had been the first victim, the one who got his neck ripped off, had just got up off the floor and taken a bite of someone else. .fuck. if I had known this was the extent of the "virus", I probably would've cancelled our show and stayed in our hotel.

"Kat! Kat!"

I heard someone screaming my name but I was paralyzed. These fucking people were _eating _others! I mean, I just thought "bite" actually meant something more like "nibble" on the news, but these guys were straight up ripping into people like they were turkey legs.

"Kat! Let's fucking go!"

Someone grabbed my arm and I turned and saw Kyle as he started pulling me backstage. Jake and Brendan were being quickly ushered by big security guards.

"We gotta get the fuck outta here!"

We caught up with the rest of the guys while security led us back to our bus. When we were all safely on board, the driver pulled away and started towards our hotel.

"What the fuck was that, man?" Jake asked desperately, running a hand through his sweaty hair.

Brendan put his head on the table and looked like he was about to be sick.

"I don't fucking know!" Kyle exclaimed. "They just started fucking biting everyone! Jesus Christ! I didn't think it was this fucking bad when I heard it on the news! I mean, they were fucking _ripping_people's skin off!"

I sat staring blankly at their faces. I now realized the extent of what this really was. Things were going down, and fast. Everything we knew was about to be turned to pure fucking chaos and there was nothing anyone could do about it. That guy, the first one, he was _dead_, right? The other guy said so. But he just fucking got back up like there was nothing wrong. But clearly, there was. I felt like I was stuck in the middle of some bad horror movie. Fuck me.

"Guys," I said. They all turned to look at me, shocked that I had finally spoken. "Whatever the fuck this is, whatever the fuck happens, we _need_to stick together." They all nodded slowly.

"Yeah," Brendan said. "We will. We will."

That was then.

This is now.

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><p><strong>Wooo! Chapter one yeaahh! So like I said it might suck now BUT in the next chapter she meets the group! SO STICK THE FUCK AROUND. Hopefully it'll be out tomorrow...I don't actually have chapters pre-written, I'm just going with it for now. But I go back to school Monday so it might not be like that much longer. Uhh I think that's it. REVIEW AND LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK SO FAR! Hope you enjoyed!<strong>  
><strong>Oh, and here's a link to the rock version of Rolling in the Deep!<strong>

**.com/watch?v=d2cQ8fpSUT4**

**^ just add youtube to the beginning of that...didn't show up for some reason...**

***Breaking Bad is the name of another AMC show, and I just thought it made a cool band name.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello beautiful people! Here is chapter 2 yayy! So it's kinda filler-ish I guess...idk but there's a flashback. Well I finally decided that I'm gonna have this be right before they get to Hershel's, so the next chapter will probably be the highway scene. And this way I can see where the rest of the season goes and see if I wanna follow that.**

**And I would like to thank heartmitosis for being my first reviewer! And for reminding me that Kat Williams is also the name of a comedian LOL. I'm not gonna change her name though cause I think it's kinda cool...so just remember that my character is not a skinny black guy!**

**One last thing, not sure if I'm gonna take the time to write out the accents or not. Mainly because I'm a lazy bitch. But Kat has a Boston accent, and I think it'd look kinda stupid to write things like "pahk the cah in havahd yahd". It just makes it harder to read. So yeah...idk let me know what you think.**

**ENJOY!**

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><p><em>I came to win, to fight<br>to conquer, to thrive  
>I came to win, to survive<br>to prosper, to rise  
>to fly, to fly.<em>

The words drifted through my speakers as I drove down the road and I couldn't help but think they were made for me in this current situation. All I did these days was drive. Or to save gas I'd just pull over somewhere that looked safe and try to keep myself entertained. I still had my phone. There was no service of course, but the games still worked thank god. I also wanted to keep it for all the pictures I had on it. So I'd pull over and play angry birds or whatever for a while before I'd start driving again. I used my car charger to charge it if it was almost dead. Same thing with my iPod.

I also had a shit ton of books to read. I raided a Barnes and Nobles and made sure to stock up. I had some regular fiction books like Harry Potter and such, but I had _loads_ of psychology and medical books. Honestly, those were probably the only two kinds of books that mattered these days. Before all this shit I was a psych major anyway, but what better time to further my knowledge right? In this world you need to know who you can trust. You need to know how to read people like _they _were books. You have to get into people's heads. And psychology was the perfect subject for that. The medical books were a little harder to understand, but I tried my best. God only knows when you'd run into a doctor or nurse when you needed one, so you have to make do by yourself.

When I wasn't doing any of that I was trying out different hair and makeup looks. Why? Well it's not like I have anything better to do right? Everything was free now so why shouldn't I take advantage of that? Plus, it always help to look good in case I ran into any more dumbass men I could steal from.

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><p><em>I was walking down a deserted road dragging my little suitcase behind me. I made sure to walk in the middle of the road in case some zombies decided to come out from the woods they wouldn't be able to grab me right away. I was scanning the woods for any movement when I heard it. The rumble of a car. A car that meant people. Holy shit, I wasn't alone. On the downside, that could mean something good or bad. It could be some nice folk who would take me in and help me, or it could be some crazy motherfucker who wanted to rape and kill me. I moved to the left side of the road and took out one of my guys as I waited for the car. I could see it now. A nice, big, shiny black Escalade with a <em>snow plow_ somehow attached to the front. My god. Who the fuck was I dealing with?_

_It was slowing down now, and I could see there was only one person in it, a guy with a cowboy hat. I aimed my gun at him as he stopped and got out of the car. He has his gun trained on me, too. Shit. He was a pretty big guy. Well, when you're only five feet tall everyone's big to you, but this guy was probably about 6'2. He looked to be in his 40's, maybe 50. He was lean but you could see the muscles underneath his shirt. He kind of reminded me of Yosemite Sam. Weird. This could either work for or against my favor. I was hoping it would be for._

_He was the first to speak._

"_You need a ride lil lady?"_

_I smirked. Clearly, he didn't think I was a threat. This could work in my favor._

"_Depends," I said, "only if you're willing to give me one."_

"_Well, I'll be willing if you're willing to give me something in return." He sent me the tell-tale creepy petophile smile._

_Yeah, this would work._

_I lowered my gun and walked over to him with my suitcase._

"_Help a lady with her bag?" I smiled at him._

"_Sure thing, sweetheart. Why don't you go ahead and get in and wait for me while I put this in the trunk," he said._

_I got in the passenger side as he went around to put my bag in the trunk. I took this moment to check for the keys. Yup, jackass had left them in the car. I smiled at my own good luck. For once it seemed something was going right on my behalf._

_As soon as he shut the trunk I locked the doors, hopped over into the driver's seat and started the engine. He ran up to the window and started beating it in anger._

"_You little cunt!" he yelled._

_I blew him a kiss and peeled away in my bitchin' new Escalade._

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><p>The car was like a godsend. It had two rows in the back and the last row folded down to make more room. I set up a little bed for myself back there, not that I ever got more than a few hours of sleep. Nerves kept me awake. I cut up some sheets to use to put against the windows for when I slept but god only knows what the fuck was out there. The car was roomy enough that I basically had my own little house. Plus, that asshole had a bunch of weapons in here which was fucking awesome. Not that I used them, but whatever. I preferred my own two guns that I stole from a police station, because they were the only ones I could find with silencers. And thank <em>fuck <em>for silencers. I also had a pair of curved double blades and holy hell they were awesome. They looked like something pirates would use. The quieter the better. One day you could be popping a squat in the woods and a zombie could just come outta nowhere and you obviously don't wanna make noise and attract more.

Speaking of popping a squat, fuck, I had to pee. That was probably the worst part of all this shit. No goddamn bathrooms anywhere when you needed them. Have you ever shit in the woods while trying to be aware of undead cannibals? Trust me, it is not fun.

I pulled over to the side of the road and shut the car off. I scanned the woods quickly for anything. When I saw the coast was clear, I grabbed a roll of toilet paper from the back and got out, shutting my door as quietly as I could. I made sure my guns and knives were securely strapped to my hips before moving into the woods of the unknown. It was kind of heavy with all of them there, but hey, better safe than sorry.

I found a spot not too far in and was doing my business when I heard it. Again. The sounds of cars. But this time there was more than one. And was that…a motorcycle? What the fuck? The sounds of the engines stopped and I quickly finished and pulled up my pants.

"Guys, it looks like someone like, _lives_ here," I heard someone say.

Oh, what the fuck! These people were checking out my precious baby! So help me if they broke into they'd be in for pure hell.

I crept up behind a tree and peeked out as quietly as I could. I could see a group of people, a few women and kids, and some men. There was a big black guy a little too close to my trunk for my liking. Jesus. I had no idea there'd be this many people left so close to me. I wanted to be happy, but I still didn't know these people and obviously couldn't just trust them. There was a big RV parked where they were, along with a station wagon and, I knew it, a black motorcycle.

"Well," one of the men said, "let's get it open and see what's up."

Oh hell no.

When they were all preoccupied, I slunk up silently behind the black man and pulled out my gun and aimed at his head. They all turned to stare at me wide-eyed when they heard it click.

"You mind telling me what the hell you think you're doing to my car?"

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><p><strong>So there you go! I know I said she'd meet the group and you probably thought it'd be more exciting but at least I didn't lie, she did meet them! The story will pick up I promise and I have big plans for some shit. BIG. So stick around and please review!<strong>

**Also, did you notice the little reference to the movie Zombieland? Well if you didn't see it or have no idea what the fuck I'm talking about it's the car and the guy driving it. He wasn't a creeper in the movie, but I changed him just for that little bit. If you haven't seen it go watch it cause it's fucking hilarious.**

**_song is Fly by Nicki Minaj ft. Rihanna_**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry this is kinda late...I have a very bad proscrastination habbit. On top of that I went back to school Monday which kind of sucks ass. But only kind of because my classes are really interesting. Like, I _actually_ pay attention! Not used to that.**

**Anyway, this chapter is a bit short but I really wanted to get something out and it's like past midnight and I'm tired and blah blah. BUT I will try to have the next chapter out tomorrow! If anyone even reads this...**

**And PLEASE, PLEASE review! There's only 3 reviews so far, which is very depressing. I'M SO ALONE.**

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><p>The man I was aiming at slowly put his hands up as everyone else stared at me. A man in a sheriff's uniform took a step forward, so I took out my other gun and pointed it at him. He took a step back and started to speak.<p>

"Look, we don't mean any trouble miss—"

"HOLY SHIT!" A loud yell cut him off. The group turned to look at an Asian kid who stepped forward. He looked to be in his 20's and was wearing a worn out ball cap. He somehow looked vaguely familiar. "You're…you're Kat Williams!" he exclaimed.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "I know you?"

"N-no," he stuttered. "But I know you! You're the lead singer of Breaking Bad! I was at your show in Atlanta the night that…" he trailed off, obviously not wanting to bring up that awful memory.

Now I remembered him. The kid with the goofy smile in the first row that I winked at. Holy shit. What a fucking small world it is, huh? Feeling like I could trust him a little bit, I put away one of my guns but only lowered the other one just in case. I raised my aviators and put them on my head.

"Well goddamn, world goes to shit and I still have a fan. Who'da thought?" I laughed.

"I know!" he exclaimed. He seemed to be a little too excited… "That whole night was crazy. I mean, you were great! But, uh, you know when—"

"You know I'd hate to break up this little lovefest, but can you tell us what the hell's going on here?"

I turned my gaze to the person who so rudely interrupted my newfound friend…fan…whatever you'd call him. He was a big redneck looking guy, probably in his early thirties. He had brown hair and the most piercing blue eyes I've ever seen. Damn. I checked out his muscles that were visible from his sleeveless shirt. Yummy. The only flaw was that I could tell he had a bit of an attitude problem. Probably had a rough past. Whatever. If there was one thing I was good at, it was breaking people open and seeing them for who they really were. And that was exactly what I planned to do with him.

The Asian kid blushed and started to stammer. "OH! Right, uh, sorry guys. This is um—"

"Kat Williams," I introduced myself, trying to take the heat off him. "Lead singer of the…_former_ band Breaking Bad." I gave them all a big smile while they continued to stare at me curiously. "And who might you fine people be?"

"I'm officer Rick Grimes," said the sheriff. I took it he was their leader. "This here is my wife Lori and son Carl," he continued, pointing out a tall brunette woman who was holding a young boy close to her. "And this is Shane, T-Dog, Carol and her daughter Sophia, Andrea, Dale, and Daryl," he continued to point out everyone as he said their names. So Daryl was the hot redneck. The name was somehow fitting.

"You from Boston?" asked the one named Shane. I noticed he was also wearing a police shirt. He and Rick must've been partners or something.

"Yeah," I glanced at him wearily, "how'd you know?"

"The accent. It's kinda hahhd to miss," he laughed, imitating my Boston accent.

I heard someone scoff. I knew who it was as soon as he started to speak. "Great. Got ourselves a useless Yankee."

Faster than he could blink my gun was aimed at his face. Everyone froze in alarm and he looked pretty damn shocked himself.

"Oh, I _know_ you did not just call me a _Yankee_," I growled. "Do you see this hat?" I asked, pointing up at my Red Sox cap. "Do you see it? We don't speak of the Yankees where I come from. So I suggest you swallow your damn tongue before you think of saying shit like that to me again." Seriously, who the hell did this guy think he was? A _Yankee_, really? Last time I checked we were in the 21st century. Asshole.

I lowered my gun and I could see everyone visibly relax. "You always carry that shit around with you?" T-Dog asked, nodding at the guns and knives on my waist.

"'Course," I told him. "You can never be too careful. Plus, let's just say that not everyone out there is as friendly as you lovely folks."

Shane scratched his head. "And how do you know we're not like them?"

"Well," I started, shifting my weight to one side, "you all look like you just stepped off the island of misfit toys, so I'm assuming none of you knew each other before all this shit happened and you just decided to band together." He just kind of stared at me so I smiled smugly back at him knowing I was probably right.

"Aw, hell," Daryl began, and my eyes found him once again. "the fuck are we still doing out here? We're like fucking sitting ducks! Let's get a goddamn move on!" And with those words of wisdom he stomped back over to his motorcycle. I smirked at the fact that I had gotten to him.

Rick stepped up to me and offered his hand. "Well Kat, seems like you have two options here. You could either come with us, or continue on your own. It's your decision, but we could use you, and I'm sure you could use us. So what's it gonna be?"

I glanced around at the group staring back at me before settling my gaze back on Rick. I smiled at him as I took his hand and gave it a firm shake.

"I'm in."

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><p><strong>Annnnnd there ya go! Kinda sucks, but whatevs. I just wanted to update. Like I said, hopefully the next chapter will be out tomorrow. If not...sorry.<strong>

**PLEASE REVIEW AND I'LL LOVE YOU FOREVER!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Holy shit. This chapter was SIX whole pages in Microsoft Word! Why the fuck can't I make my essays that long when they need to be? Anyway, I got a SHIT TON of emails telling me about people subscribing to the story, which is AWESOME! But really, could you all just take a second and review? You must think my story is good if you're subscribing, but I wanna know what you REALLY think. Please?**

**ONWARD FOR GLORY!**

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><p>"Well then it's settled," Rick said. "Welcome to our group."<p>

Some people nodded at me while others still looked a little skeptical. Rick's wife, I believe her name was Lori, started to usher their son to a beat up Cherokee. "But _mom_," he whined, "it's so uncomfortable in there!"

"Yeah!" Sophia interjected, "it's so cramped! I feel like I can't move," she pouted.

"Well, the RV is already full and that's the only other option," Lori told them. "So I guess you'll have to deal. Unless one of you wants to ask Daryl if you can ride on his motorcycle." She smirked at the kids' horrified expression. I guess Daryl was a little off-putting to these people. I wonder why.

"They can ride with me," I offered. Carl and Sophia's faces brightened, but I could see their mothers looking a little apprehensive. Yeah, I probably wouldn't want my kids in a car with me either.

"It's nothing personal," Lori said to me, "but we just met you and I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that. I'm sure you understand."

Before I could even answer her Carl jumped in. "But mom, her car is _so_ cool!" He peered through the windows and took note of all the space. "It's like a house! Please mom!"

Lori started to scold him. "Carl, I don't think—"

"Listen," I interrupted her, "I know how you feel. But honestly, what would I want with two kids? If it makes you feel any better I won't even let one of them ride shotgun. They can both sit in the back and play video games. Plus, Glen somewhat knows me so that's something right?" Truthfully, I felt a little bad for the kids. They were stuck in the middle of a zombie apocalypse with nothing to keep them entertained. And I'm sure a cramped car didn't help much.

Carl gaped. "You have…_video games_?"

"'Course I do little man! What else would I do to keep myself occupied? I raided an electronics store and took a few Nintendo DS's and some games, including the BEST video game ever, Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time _3D_!"

"Please let us go with her!" Sophia begged Carol. "She's so cool!"

"Well…" Carol looked at Lori for help.

Before either of them could say anything I heard the angry Southern drawl that I loved so much. "Aye! What's the damn hold up here?" Daryl yelled at us, clearly becoming impatient. "If she does anything we can just get rid of her!" What a charmer.

"I don't know. Rick, what do you think?" Lori looked to her husband, who had been silent the whole time. He looked at Carl, then at me, then back to Carl.

"Dad, she has _video games_!" Carl said exasperatedly.

"Well, alright," he sighed. Carl and Sophia cheered in excitement. "As long as you don't give Kat here any trouble."

"We won't! We won't!" Sophia exclaimed, nearly jumping into my car.

"Don't worry; I'll take good care of them. They'll probably be too absorbed in their precious games to be doing anything else anyway," I tried to assure the parents.

"Ok, I trust you," Rick said, looking me pointedly in the eye. I smiled at his words. Yes, it was probably stupid to trust someone so easily, especially in an apocalypse, but I knew I was a trustworthy person and it made me feel special. "Why don't you go ahead and pull out behind Daryl, that snow plow of yours could come in handy."

I gave him a mock salute. "Sure thing, officer. But uh…where exactly are we going?" I just realized I had no idea of that. When I was alone I just kind of drove around aimlessly looking for anyone or anything. These people looked like they had a plan.

"We're trying to get to Fort Benning. We're hoping there's something there," he answered. "We should get going. Oh, and since you're at the front just signal if you're pulling over for something. If there's any trouble from the RV or us, we'll honk once to signal you should pull over."

"Alright," I said. "We should get a move on before Daryl has a hernia." I could see him glaring at us from his perch on his motorcycle. Well, glaring at me really. The fuck is his problem?

Rick smiled slightly and nodded before moving to join his wife and Carol in the Cherokee. I turned and hopped into my car to find Carl already completely immersed in a game of Zelda and Sophia looking through my makeup.

"You guys ready to party?" I exclaimed. They looked at me like I was a psycho.

"Uh, sure?" Sophia said, making it sound more like a question than a statement.

"Alright then, let's do this!" I pumped my fist in the air and pulled out after Daryl.

After about fifteen minutes of driving in silence, which was slightly awkward, I thought kids would be a little more talkative, I heard Carl sigh. "I'm bored."

"Are you kidding me?" I asked. "You were so excited to get in here and play games and now you're bored?"

"I started where your game was and I can't figure out how to do anything." I didn't remember where I was, so I asked him. "At some water place," he answered.

"Oh God," I said, "you're at the Water Temple. Yeah, you should probably just shut that off because you won't get anywhere. That temple is literally the biggest pain in anyone's ass."

"Yeah. So now I'm bored."

"Me too," Sophia agreed.

"Ok, how about we play rock band?" I asked, looking at them through the rearview mirror.

"Aren't you in a rock band?" Sophia asked. "That's what Glenn said."

"I _was_ in a rock band," I told her. "But obviously ever since this whole zombie apocalypse thing that kind of disappeared. We were just getting big too…" I trailed off, not wanting to think about that. Those had been the best days of my life, and they were brutally cut short by this bullshit.

"Well what do we do?" Carl asked, breaking me out of my memories.

"Not much really. Just put on some music and rock out. Sounds stupid, but it's fun once you get into it, trust me." I straightened up in my seat and glanced at them. "Sophia, you can be the guitarist, and Carl can be the drummer. I, of course, will be the singer." I could see them glance at each other uncertainly. I grabbed my iPod and plugged in it to look for a song. "Ah, here we go."

The intro to Electric Mary's 'Let Me Out' flowed through the speakers. I started bobbing my head and noticed Sophia wasn't doing anything.

"Come on, Sophia, this is you!" I started to play the air guitar trying to get her to loosen up a little. She hesitantly started imitating me and when the drums came on Carl did the same. I grabbed my phone and used it as a makeshift microphone.

"_Sat on my hands for as long as I can now I'm stacked up and ready to go  
>I look at the sun for the answer to questions I probably already know<br>Drop the ball thank you all one more chance to play"_

I swung my head around as I sang and I could see the kids getting more into it. Sophia was looking more confident and Carl was straight up jamming on the air drums.

"_I'm back on the horse that I fell from  
>Back on the horse that I rode here on<em>  
><em>Oh Yeah, oh Yeah<br>Let me out  
>let me out"<em>

By this point we were all really into it. Hell, if we had real instruments I'd say we might've actually looked like a real band. Carl and Sophia were both wearing matching grins as they "played". I was literally rocking out like I was back on stage with my boys. My hair was flying everywhere and I'm surprised I didn't run into Daryl.

When the song ended we were all panting for breath with big smiles on our faces. "Now THAT'S how you play rock band!" I said, turning to high five each of them.

"Wow!" Sophia exclaimed, "You must've been so awesome!"

"Yeah, yeah," I tried to be modest and brush off her compliment. "You guys ready for more?" They both cheered while I picked another song.

While in the middle of rocking out to about our fourth song, I saw what was up ahead and it immediately made me stop and turn the music off. "Jesus," I said. In front of us was God only knows how many abandoned cars. It looked like a scene straight out of a horror film. I mean, the whole world was basically a horror film now, but I had never seen anything like this.

Carl and Sophia, noticing the lack of music, stopped playing and leaned up to look out the windshield. "Woah," Carl breathed.

Daryl turned around on his motorcycle and I rolled down my window so I could talk to him. "What's the deal, hoss?"

He looked at me for a second before responding. "I'll find a way through. Just follow." And with that, he drove away to tell the others.

"Well alrighty then," I said to myself. The kids giggled.

Daryl came back around and started to lead the way through the maze of cars. We had barely made it in when I heard a screeching sound from behind us. I turned and looked at the RV that now had smoke coming from under the hood. "Shit," I sighed, putting my car in park and turning off the engine. "Looks like we're getting out for a bit," I told the kids. We all got out and joined with the others at the RV. Carl and Sophia immediately ran over to their parents.

"Mom, Kat is so cool! We were playing rock band, and we got to jam out…well we were pretending, but still! She's such a good singer! And I was playing drums and Sophia was playing guitar and it was so fun!" Carl gushed to Lori. I looked at the ground to hide my grin.

"Yeah! I wish we could've seen her in a real concert, I bet it'd be awesome!" Sophia added. "Glenn you're so lucky!"

Lori looked at me surprised, as did everyone else, except Glenn, who was smiling.

"I knew it," Dale said, thankfully taking the attention off me. "Didn't I tell you? Can't get anywhere with this hose."

"Well," I said thoughtfully, looking around, "at least we're in the right place. These cars are probably loaded with useful shit."

"Right," Rick added, "everyone split up and take what we need. Food, medicine, anything important. But no one go anywhere alone."

I noticed Daryl had already taken off, so I thought this to be a good time to go stalk him. He was a little farther up, but I caught up to him quickly. Now I just had to figure out what the fuck to say to him.

"Find anything?" Apparently that was the best I could come up with. Especially since he was siphoning gas. Of course he found something.

"The fuck's it look like?" What an asshole.

"Ok then asshole. Thanks for answering." I said sarcastically.

"Why don't you go be useful and look for shit?" he said gruffly.

"Yeah, yeah, my name's Daryl blah blah," I brushed him off, throwing a hand over my shoulder and moving forward a bit.

I only got a few steps before a felt someone put a hand over my mouth and shove me to the ground. Oh _hell_ no this motherfucker did not just push me. "What the f—" I started, but he quickly shushed me and pushed me under a car. Oh fuck, what if he was really a rapist?

"Shut the fuck up and stay here," he whispered. "There's fucking walkers everywhere." He got out from under the car and went somewhere.

That's when I noticed the feet. Dozens of gray disgusting feet hobbling by. Sweet baby Jesus. Wait, where the fuck did Daryl go? I slowly lowered a hand to one of my guns just in case. But I knew I'd be fucked if one of them saw me. Because if one did, all of them would. I could feel myself shaking as the minutes went by. Finally, it seemed like they had all cleared out. Suddenly a head appeared under the car.

"Jesus fuck!" I exclaimed. "You know if I had one of my guns out you'd be fucking dead."

Daryl glared at me before grabbing my arm and pulling me out from under the car. "Hey! Watch it!" I said. "I'm fucking delicate, shithead. I bruise very easily."

He snorted. "Well excuse me, princess. Now get a fucking move on." He glared at me again before stomping off back to where the RV was. I huffed and followed him.

When we got back I immediately knew something was wrong. Everyone was huddled by the side of the highway staring into the woods. "What's going on?" I asked Glenn.

He frowned. "Sophia. She thought it was safe to come out but two walkers saw her and chased her into the woods. Rick went after her."

I could feel my heart stop. As soon as he said that there was a rustling from the bushes and I put a hand on my gun. Rick emerged. Alone.

"Where is she?" I asked.

He froze and looked at me. "You mean she's not here?" I could hear Carol sob as I shook my head. "I left her in a hiding spot so I could draw the walkers off her. I told her which way to come back. I…" he looked down, not knowing what to say.

"Well what the fuck are we doing?" Daryl, asked, looking at everyone. "She's still out there, let's get going and look." So he, Rick, Shane, and Glenn set out to look for her while the rest of us stayed.

I went over to Carol. "I'm so sorry," I said softly, "I can't even imagine what you're feeling. I wish I was closer to you guys. My guns have silencers, I could've shot them without the others hearing and she'd be fine."

She looked at me with tears in her eyes. "It's not your fault, but thank you. Thank you for letting her have fun. It's been a long time since she's gotten to do that." I nodded at her and went to sit in my car with the door open so I could still know what was going on.

A little bit later Glenn and Shane came back, but no Rick and Daryl. I could see Carol's shoulders shake. Glenn tried to reassure her while Shane came over to me.

"You mind helping move some of these cars? That snow plow looks like it could be pretty helpful."

"Sure," I said, starting my car while Andrea began to steer the cars I was pushing lightly. Yeah, the snow plow was pretty awesome. I can't wait to do some damage to some walkers with it.

After a little bit of that we were reduced to sitting around and waiting. Shane was hotwiring some car he could take with him, and it let off an emergency broadcast that was obviously of no use to us. I wondered how Sophia was doing. She must be so scared. I felt the tears well up in my eyes but I held them back. Daryl and Rick would find her. They had to.

But they didn't. When they came out of the woods without her I felt my stomach sink even farther. I listened to Carol panic as Daryl told her they cut open a walker to make sure it hadn't been near Sophia. What I didn't understand was the accusation in Carol's voice when she asked Rick how he could leave her out there. I mean, what was he supposed to do? This made me feel worse, because if I hadn't gone off to try to talk to Daryl none of this would be happening. I could've killed the two walkers and it'd be done with. I knew it wasn't my fault, but that didn't stop me from feeling horrible.

Rick stomped off while the women tried to comfort Carol. I slipped away unnoticed and hopped into the back of my car. I settled down into my little makeshift bed and closed my eyes. I was exhausted from the day's events. All I wanted to do was pass out, but my mind kept going back to poor Sophia spending the night alone in the woods.

It was going to be a long night.

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><p><strong>Woo! Long ass chapter! Sorry if there was like mistakes and what not, once again it's past midnight and I have to get up for school. Booooo. I need to stop doing this shit so late. BUT I said I'd update today (well, technically it's now Monday, but whatever) so I really wanted to. Don't know when the next chapter will be out, it depends on my work load this week. I already have a paper due Friday -_- Bullshit. But if it's not out during the week I promise it will be up during the weekend. More likely Saturday, because Sunday will be spent watching the Patriots stomp the Giants in the Super Bowl. FUCK YEAH.<strong>

**Also, here's the song they were listening to: .com/watch?v=XZNPXQpkmEI - add youtube to the beginning...dunno why it does that**

**Review por favor!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Wooo another update! Sadly the next one wont be til this weekend. Womp womp. Mostly because of that stupid paper I have due Friday that I haven't started yet. And then I have work from fucking 1-8 on Saturday which is gonna suck BALLS so I'll probably update Sunday. And brag about the Pats winning the Super Bowl. Because they will. And if they don't I'll cry. WAH.  
>Again, I got a massive amount of emails of people subscribing AND a few more reviews! Awwww yeaahhh! And to katanachica: I may or may not just do that. It'll be a surprise ;D<br>ENJOY.**

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><p>I woke up to someone knocking on my window.<p>

"Wake up, Kat!" It was Carl. "It's almost time to go look for Sophia!"

Shit. I had momentarily forgotten about that. Which made me feel like an asshole because how could I forget about a little girl lost in the woods that could be full of zombies? I groaned and rubbed my eyes tiredly. "I'll be out in a sec," I answered.

I watched him walk away to the others and grabbed a sheet to cover the windows that were facing them so I could change in peace. Hm, what to wear today? Preferably something that says "I'm a fucking badass". Or, you know, whatever. I think a black t-shirt and some jean shorts will do. I let my hair out of its messy bun and shook it out like a dog. Damn was this shit long. It was at least down to my belly button, but I had a weird obsession with long hair so I loved it. I tied a bandana around my forehead and let my hair hang down around it. Lastly, I pulled on my trusty combat boots. Not only were they awesome, they were cute too. And when I say cute I simply mean they didn't look like stereotypical I'm-a-creepy-stalker/rapist combat boots. Fuck yeah; I was ready to find Sophia.

I exited my vehicle and made my way over to where everyone was standing around the RV. I didn't fail to notice the once-over Shane gave me. Creeper. I also didn't fail to notice Daryl glaring at me. Again. Or maybe that's just his normal face.

"Well now that Sleeping Beauty's finally up we can get started," he said mockingly.

"Aww you think I'm beautiful? How sweet of you!" I fake swooned while everyone tried not to laugh.

"Alright," Rick said, interrupting what may have resulted in an argument, "everyone takes a weapon. Stay quiet, stay alert, and look out for anything that might give us signs of where she went." I noticed everyone taking weapons from the arsenal that Carl found yesterday.

"These aren't the weapons we need," Andrea said in distaste. "What about the guns?"

"We've been over that," Shane told her. "Daryl, Rick and I are carrying. Can't have everyone popping off rounds every time a tree rustles."

"It's not the trees I'm worried about," she countered. Then she turned her sights on me. "_She_ has a gun. Two, actually. What about her?"

I guess they had forgotten about my guns, because Rick turned to me. Before he could say anything I beat him to it. "My guns have silencers. And I know how to use them." I looked pointedly at Andrea.

"Do you now?" she scoffed. Seriously, what was this bitch's problem? Whatever it was, she was about to look like an idiot.

I scanned the trees before I found my target. I took aim and fired, watching the squirrel fall out of the tree, dead. "Yeah, actually, I do." I raised an eyebrow at her, daring her to say something else. She didn't.

Rick turned to me, impressed. "Well then I guess Kat's carrying too." He went over to Dale and put a hand on his shoulder. "Keep working on that hose, I want to be out of here as soon as possible if necessary. Keep an eye on Carl for me."

"I'm coming," Carl stated. "I wanna help find Sophia."

Rick looked at Lori, silently asking her what she thought. "Don't look at me," she said. "I can't always be the bad guy."

Rick sighed. "Alright then. But never leave our sight." Carl smiled big and nodded. I had to admire him for his bravery and dedication to finding his friend. So adorable.

Everyone started to gather their things for the journey. I went to my car to get my backpack and put some snacks and water in it. I saw Andrea go over to Dale and ask him for her gun. Really, what was her obsession with guns? I didn't want to eavesdrop, but she was being slightly loud and everyone else was listening too so what the hell. Dale said something about someone named Amy and she snapped. I whispered to Glenn asking who she was and he said it was her sister. That hit a slight nerve with me. I had enough of her attitude and I decided to intervene.

"Hey," I called, walking over to the pair. Dale looked confused and Andrea still looked pissed. "Listen, you're not getting a goddamn gun and that's it. Clearly you don't even know how to use one, so what the fuck do you plan on doing with it? You'd probably do exactly what Shane said and shoot at anything that moves and get us all killed." By this point she didn't really look pissed, just shocked that I would speak to her like that. I went on. "I didn't know your sister, but I do know that we all lost people. Hell, I even lost my own sister, and she was only nine. But that doesn't mean I'm gonna go around being a bitch to everyone. _Especially_ people who care about me. Dale is trying to look out for you and you need to get over it."

Everyone was silent when I finished my little rant, and Andrea looked a little ashamed. As she should. I glanced around before starting to make my way into the woods. "Now that that's over and done with, I believe we have us a missing girl to find." That seemed to break everyone out of it, and they all followed me into the woods.

We had been walking for about ten minutes following the trail Daryl picked up. I was walking beside Glenn and he kept sneaking glances at me. I paid no mind to it at first but it was kind of getting annoying.

"You're not being very discreet you know," I said, looking ahead and not at him.

He faltered, and coughed awkwardly. "Sorry. It's ah, just, you know…weird I guess. Two months ago I was watching you on stage and now you're part of my group in the middle of the apocalypse."

I smiled slightly. "Yeah, that is kinda weird when you think about it. I remember you, you know. In the crowd at our last show in Atlanta." I looked at him out of the corner of my eye, seeing him looking back at me with a grin.

"Really?" he asked. "I never would've thought—"

"Can ya'll keep it down?" Daryl said rudely, looking back at us. "You tryna get us killed?"

"I'm sorry, were we talking to you?" I retorted. "No? Ok then. Mind your own business."

"Guys," Rick shushed us, nodding his head in front of us. There was a tent about 20 feet ahead of us. "She could be in there."

"Could be a lotta things in there," Daryl said, taking out his knife and moving up to the tent.

Rick had Carol call out softly so Sophia would know it was us…if she was in there. When there was no answer Daryl slowly unzipped the tent and went inside. We all waited eagerly for him to come back out. I knew she wasn't in there. If she was she would've answered us. Unless she was dead. Oh god, I couldn't even think about that. After what felt like forever Daryl finally came out. Alone.

"What's in there?" Carol asked shakily.

"Some guy," he answered, "did what Jenner said. Opted out. Aint that what he called it?"

I had no idea who or what he was even talking about, but before I could ask a loud ringing sounded throughout the woods. "What the fuck is that?"

"It's church bells!" Rick yelled, running in the direction he thought it was coming from.

We all ran after him until we came across a small clearing with a cemetery in it. Across the way was a small white church. "That can't be it man there's no steeple," Shane pointed out. But the bells sounded again. And it _was_ coming from the church.

We all ran up to the doors and paused. Shane, Rick, and Daryl stepped up front, but I made sure I was right behind them. Rick pushed open the doors, and we could see 3 figures sitting in the pews. For a second I thought they might actually be real people. But then they turned around and we could see the rotting flesh on their faces. One of them was even grinning. The entire sight was somehow incredibly disturbing, even more so than seeing just regular walkers.

The men all went in to pick off the walkers, Daryl going after one that was literally a zombie bride. Just to get on his nerves, I decided to take out my gun and shoot her before he had a chance to finish her off. When she hit the floor he looked around confused before his eyes landed on me. I gave him a cheeky grin. He stormed over and glared fiercely at me. "I had that covered. Didn't need your damn help."

"Oh, I know," I said back. "I just wanted to piss you off." I threw in a wink for good measure.

Before he could say anything else, the bells went off again and everyone ran to the side of the church. Glenn opened a small box on the wall and pulled some wires. "A timer. It's on a timer."

"I think I'm gonna go back inside for a little bit," Carol said softly. Lori followed her inside while everyone else hung around outside.

When they were done everyone regrouped to talk about what to do next. Rick, Shane, and Carl were going to continue looking for Sophia while the rest of us went back to the highway. Daryl led the way while Glenn, Lori, Carol, Andrea and I all headed back. We were walking for a while when we heard a gunshot ring out loudly. Everyone stopped and looked around as if that would tell us what happened and where it came from.

"Maybe they took down a walker," Daryl offered.

"You know Rick or Shane would never risk that they'd do it quietly," Lori retorted. I had to agree with her. I mean, they gave that whole speech about how people shouldn't have guns because they'd be shooting at anything. Why would one of them shoot one single gunshot when they knew it would risk their lives?

We continued to walk for a short while when Andrea let out a scream. Oh Jesus, what the fuck was it now? We all ran to find her and saw a walker hovering over her. I pulled out my gun but before I could even do anything a girl on a horse galloped past and smashed the walker with a baseball bat. Um, what?

"Lori? Lori Grimes?" the mystery girl asked, looking at each of us.

Lori stepped forward. "Yes, that's me."

"You have to come now," the girl ordered. "Carl's been shot. We're gonna help, but you have to come now." Lori immediately began to take her backpack off to get on the horse, much to the protests of Daryl.

"Rick said you have others on the highway? Our farm is about 2 miles down. Name on the mailbox is Greene." With that the girl rode away with Lori in tow. This day just kept getting fucking weirder and weirder.

Suddenly, the walker that attacked Andrea sat up and groaned. Daryl was quick to silence it with an arrow to the head and a "shut up."

Goddamnit he was attractive.

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><p><strong>I actually uploaded this last night, but I guess everything was all fucked up and some people's new chapters weren't showing up. Mine happened to be one of them. Sorry if it sucked, but I wrote it late (again). I would've had to get up for school but I decided to skip to work on my stupid paper. Also, I may have skipped some parts and dialogue because I don't remember it all. And yes, Kat had a little sister, which will come into play later on.<br>Hopefully this got uploaded this time and you guys enjoyed it! And PLEASE review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Welcome back! So the last chapter was kinda blah, and this one is a little blah too. I kinda forget what happened on the show, so I'm trying to figure that out and work it in. It's hard when I keep forgetting then remembering certain things that happened so I have to change shit around. But anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter a little bit.**

**ALSO, I changed my username. Why? Because this one is so much better.**

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><p>"What do you mean shot?" Dale asked when I finished explaining everything that happened.<p>

"I have no idea. Some girl just rode up on a horse outta nowhere and took Lori saying Carl was shot," I said.

"And you let her?"

"She knew their names," I explained. "And Rick's. And she knew about the rest of us on the highway. Said their farm is about two miles away."

"We can't leave," said Carol, looking on the brink of tears again.

"The group is split," Dale tried to reason with her. "We're scattered and weak."

"What if she comes back? And we're not here?"

"If Sophia found her way back and we were gone…that would be awful," Andrea said.

"Okay," Daryl said, nodding. "We gotta plan for this. I say tomorrow morning's soon enough to pull up stakes. It'll give us a chance to rig a big sign." He looked over at Carol, who nodded in appreciation. "We'll leave her some supplies. I'll hold here tonight and stay with the RV."

"If the RV is staying, I am, too," Dale said.

"I'm in," Andrea said.

"Same," I added.

"Well, I think it's pretty obvious that I need to stay, too," Glenn threw in.

"No, not you, Glenn," Dale objected. "You're going. Take Carol's Cherokee. You have to find this farm, reconnect with our people, and see what's going on. But most important, you have to get T-Dog there. That cut of his has gone from bad to worse. He has a very serious blood infection."

I noticed Daryl go over to his bike and pick up a rag off it. Under the rag was a large bag full of pills. Daryl threw the rag at Dale's chest. "Keep your rags off my brother's motorcycle." Wait, brother? Clearly I was missing something here.

"Why'd ya wait til now to say something?" he asked, digging through the bag. "I've got my brother's stash. Crystal, X. Don't need that." He pulled out a bottle and looked at the label, tossing it over to Glenn. "Got some kickass pain killers." Daryl turned back to the bag and found another bottle and threw it to Dale. "It's not the generic stuff, either. That's first class. Merle got the clap on occasion." He turned and walked into the RV.

"So…who the fuck is Merle and why does he have the clap?" I asked everyone once he was out of earshot.

They glanced at each other briefly before Glenn started to explain. Apparently, Merle was Daryl's older brother, and he was a racist, sexist asshole. They had been on a supply trip to Atlanta and Merle was shooting at walkers from a rooftop, drawing them all to the store where the group was hiding and putting them all at risk. That was where they met up with Rick, who decided to handcuff Merle to the roof. T-Dog had accidently dropped the key down a drain, but pad-locked the door so the walkers couldn't get him. I cringed when he told me about Merle cutting off his hand to escape. This really was like a horror movie.

When he finished explaining, everyone had their heads down, as if they were ashamed. "Well, I think Rick did the right thing, and you guys have nothing to feel bad for," I told them. They looked at me surprised. What, did they expect me to be disgusted with them or something? "Seriously. He could've gotten you all killed. In all honesty, I probably would've just thrown him off the roof." The last bit made Dale raise his eyebrows. What? Sounds like Merle deserved it anyway.

After that, Glenn and T-Dog left for the farm. Dale went to keep watch and Andrea and Carol headed into the RV. I felt a little bit awkward, so I just decided to head to my car and turn in for the night.

The next morning everyone was up and getting ready to head to the farm. I saw Daryl getting his, or Merle's, whatever, bike ready and I got an idea.

"Hey, Andrea!" I called out, seeing her about to get into the RV. She looked at me confused. "You wanna drive my car?" I asked her.

"What?" She seemed a little taken aback. "Why? You really wanna ride in the RV?"

"Nah. I've never ridden on a motorcycle before." I grinned, looking over at Daryl. He was not gonna like this.

She looked at Daryl and back at me. "You serious? He's never gonna let you on that thing. That was his brothers."

"Well," I said, handing her my keys, "let's just say I'm not giving him a choice."

I strutted over to the motorcycle and sat on it like I owned the damn thing. Daryl's eyes widened for a moment before they narrowed. I nodded at him nonchalantly. "Sup."

"The fuck do you think you're doing?" he asked angrily. "Get the fuck off my goddamn bike!"

"You know," I said, looking at the sky thoughtfully, "if I remember correctly, this is _Merle's_ bike, not yours. So no, I will not get off. Now, _you_ get _on_ and let's go. I wanna find this damn farm and find out what the fuck's going on." I smiled brightly at him. "Please."

His jaw tightened and for a second I thought he was going to kill me or something. He let out a long breath and finally sat on the bike heavily, kicking up the kick-stand and starting it. I squealed in excitement and wrapped my arms around his waist. I felt him tense under me and smirked. This was going to be fun.

As we started picking up speed down the road I enjoyed the feeling of the cold wind whipping around me. It was refreshing in this hot as fuck southern weather. I spread out my arms and leaned my head back and closed my eyes. It felt like that stupid part in Titanic when Jack and Rose were standing at the very front of the ship. Except Daryl and I were nothing like Jack and Rose. I smiled wide as I thought about how corny that was. I kept my eyes closed and just tried to focus on the wind. It felt like nothing was different. Like the walking dead hadn't taken over the world. It felt like tomorrow I'd wake up in my tour bus with the guys. We'd go get Rebecca from my aunt's and continue on our country-wide tour.

I stopped there. I didn't want to think about Rebecca.

But it was too late. Thinking about her had put me out of my mood. I sighed and dropped my arms, resting them lightly at Daryl's waist. He glanced over his shoulder briefly before concentrating on the road again. I rested my chin on his shoulder.

"Thanks. This is fun," I said in his ear, loud enough for him to hear over the roar of the engine. He looked at me for a second out of the corner of his eye before nodding once.

It didn't take too long for us to reach the farm. It was a big white house, completely surrounded by fields and woods. There was a barn a little bit away from it, and a stable too. We pulled up in front of the house and I got off the bike and headed to make sure Andrea had done nothing to my baby.

"Don't worry," she said, smiling at me, "I kept it in perfect condition. And can I just say, thank _God_ you have an iPod."

I smirked at her and took my keys back. We walked over to where Rick was standing with Dale and Carol.

"An accident," he said. "That's all it was. A stupid hunting accident."

"Where is he now?" I asked.

"He's resting. He needs surgery. Shane and Otis, the man that shot him, went to raid the high school for medical supplies. If they get back here soon he should be fine."

I didn't ask what would happen if they didn't get back soon. I think we all knew it wouldn't be good.

"Oh my God!" someone suddenly yelled. "Is that Kat Williams?"

Rick looked at me with a bemused smirk. "Looks like you have more fans left than you thought." I heard Daryl scoff somewhere behind me.

I could see a girl coming toward me; she looked to be about sixteen with blonde hair. "Is that really Kat Williams?"

"In the flesh." I smiled at her.

She unexpectedly pulled me in a hug. "Oh my God, I'm a huge fan!"

I hugged her back a little awkwardly, not used to the forwardness. I mean yeah, I had met and hugged fans before, but none of them really grabbed me like she had. "Uh, thanks."

She must've realized how I felt, because she pulled back quickly and cleared her throat a little bit. "Sorry. I'm just a huge fan of Breaking Bad. Are the rest of the guys here?" I looked at the ground and back at her, shaking my head slowly. Her face dropped. "Oh...I'm so sorry…"

I held up a hand. "It's not your fault, you didn't know," I said, giving her a small smile.

An older man walked over to us, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Beth, why don't you go check on the boy." She nodded and smiled at me again before going into the house. "Excuse Beth," he said to me, "she's just a little star-struck is all. I've seen your poster in her room, and I hear her listening to your music all the time. Not really my taste, but better than most music I hear these days."

I smiled at his compliment. Well, slight compliment. Introductions went around and the group dispersed to set up camp. The RV and my car were parked near a few trees, a little bit away from the house. Everyone was setting up their tents so I just offered to help since I didn't have one to set up.

After I helped Glenn finish setting up I headed over towards my best friend Daryl. He saw me coming and looked back at what he was doing. "Don't need your help." He stated gruffly.

"Well you're in luck, 'cause I wasn't planning on helping you," I said, leaning against a tree and crossing my arms.

"Look," he glared at me, "I don't know who the hell you think you are—"

"I think I'm Kat Williams." I cut him off, smiling at him.

"I don't give a shit who you are. I don't need your damn help, and I sure as hell don't need you up my ass all the time."

"Please," I rolled my eyes, moving away from the tree, "you like it. And where would be the fun in leaving you alone?"

He continued to glare daggers at me as I blew him a kiss and headed to my car.

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><p><strong>Boom. Yeah I dunno. It's late and I'm tired. And I work tomorrow legit all day. I work at the biggest supermarket in New England and it's ALWAYS busy, and weekends are fucking HELL. And on top of it being the weekend it's the beginning of the month so everyone gets their food stamps and they're gonna be buying $800 worth of shit. AND it's the day before the Super Bowl. But if I'm somehow not dead by the end of my shift there may be another chapter out.<strong>

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

**GO PATS!**


	7. Chapter 7

**The Pats lost the Super Bowl. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU. Whatever. Boston is still the most dominant sports city in America. TAKE THAT NEW YORK.**

**Yeah so anyway. New chapter wooo! I got like no reviews/alerts from the last chapter. That was a bit disheartening. BUT there's some Kat/Daryl action in this awww yeaaahhh. A little. Just review anyway.**

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><p>The next few days on the farm were spent continuing our search for Sophia. We had a little bit of hope when Daryl had found an abandoned house, but we still couldn't find her. It was like she vanished. I didn't want to admit it, but I was starting to think the worst. I mean, how long could a little girl survive on her on in a forest full of zombies?<p>

In brighter news, Carl was up and making a great recovery. I was even helping him with some of his schooling. Well, I mostly taught him about psychology, but what else do you need in this world? Plus, those were mainly the only books I had with me, besides the medical books, but I think that might be a little too complicated for now. Lori was very appreciative of my help. She seemed to be more stressed out than usual lately. I didn't really dwell on it.

Someone else that seemed off was Shane. When he had come back from getting the medical supplies, he told us that the man Otis had been killed by walkers when they were trying to escape. I didn't think too much about it, obviously things like that happen nowadays, but when he randomly shaved his head that sported what looked like a scar from a chunk of missing hair, that's when I began to worry a bit. Why would he shave his head for no reason? And where the hell did he get that scar? At Otis's little makeshift funeral he had acted strange. He didn't want to speak about what happened, and when he did it seemed like he had to force it out. Ever since that he'd been acting more and more strange. Like he was slowly losing himself. I guess I'd have to keep an eye on him.

On about our fourth day there everyone was huddled around the map about to go look for Sophia again. "I'm going to borrow a horse and head up to this ridge right here and get a bird's eye view of the whole grid. If she's up there I'll spot her." Daryl said.

"Good idea," T-Dog threw in, "maybe you'll see your chupacabra up there, too."

"Chupacabra?" Rick asked.

"You never heard that?" Dale said. "First night at camp Daryl tells us this whole thing reminds him of the time he went hunting and saw a chupacabra." The way he said it made it clear he thought Daryl was crazy.

I snorted. Apparently I wasn't the only one who found it funny, because Jimmy laughed beside me.

Daryl glared at him. "What are you braying at, jackass?"

"So you believe in a blood-sucking dog?" Jimmy asked him.

"You believe there's dead people walking around?" Daryl retorted.

I rolled my eyes and grinned at the foolishness of the situation. "Well I'm gonna go keep watch for a while. I need to repaint my nails anyway."

I walked to my car to get some nail polish. Hm, what color to choose? I decided on my favorite teal-ish color and headed to the RV. I relieved Glenn of his duties and sat down with the rifle across my lap. I opened my polish and began my paint job, glancing around every few seconds to make sure it was safe. It pretty much always ways, we've been here for four days and haven't had one walker sighting. It's like they just stay away from here for some reason.

I finished painting my left hand when my favorite person called out to me. "Ay, Red!"

"I'm a brunette," I said flatly, continuing to paint my nails.

"Your hair's red ain't it?"

I looked down at him lazily. "Tell me Daryl, when have you ever seen someone with naturally _bright red_ hair?"

"Well, whatever. Shouldn't you be keeping watch? Not painting your fucking nails?" He barked.

"It's called multi-tasking. Ever heard of it?"

"You shouldn't be fucking multi-tasking in a fucking world gone to shit! Don't you know nothing?" He started to stomp off in the direction of the stables and I heard him mutter something about "stupid red-haired bitch".

"I'm a brunette!" I yelled after him, satisfied that I had pissed him off. Again.

I sat there for a few hours and _my god_ was it boring as shit. No walker sightings, no people sightings, no nothing. Finally Andrea came to switch with me and I was free to do what I pleased. Which, at the moment, was schooling Carl.

I was helping him memorize his time-table when he looked up at me thoughtfully. "You know, I think Daryl likes you."

My eyes widened slightly at his statement. "Oh really? And why's that?" I asked him.

"Well," he started, "I always see him glance at you or watch you when he thinks no one's looking. I think he secretly likes the attention you give him because he's so lonely, but he doesn't wanna admit it. And he always argues with you. It's like when girls and boys like one another, they pick on each other."

When he was finished I looked at him in fake shock. "Have you been…using your psychology? I'M SO PROUD!" I exclaimed, hugging him to me. He laughed and pushed me away from him while I started back with our lesson. "Ok, so what's twelve times-"

"WALKER!" Andrea's loud cry cut me off.

I immediately jumped up along with T-Dog, Glenn, Rick, and Shane.

"Just the one?" Rick asked.

"Yeah," Andrea responded. "I think I can nail it from here."

"No, don't. Hershel wants to deal with walkers."

"What for?" Shane asked. "We got it covered."

With that we all took off running in the direction of the lone walker. We slowed down as we neared it and were met with a familiar figure. My heart dropped. How could this have happened?

"Is that Daryl?" Glenn asked as Rick pointed his gun at him.

Daryl was breathing heavily but he wasn't making any groaning noises like the walkers do. We all waited for something to happen when he spoke. "That's the third time you've pointed that thing at me. You gonna pull the trigger or what?"

I let out a sigh of relief and I'm pretty sure everyone else did too. I started to take a step forward when a shot suddenly rang out, and Daryl spun backwards and hit the ground.

"NO!" Rick screamed. "NO!"

We all rushed forward and thank fucking Jesus Andrea had only grazed the side of his head. Rick and Shane hoisted him onto their shoulders.

"I was kidding," Daryl said, right before he passed out.

"What the hell happened to him?" Glenn asked. "He's wearing ears!"

"Let's keep that to ourselves," Rick told us, pulling the ears from around Daryl's neck and shoving them down his shirt. I held in a gag.

"Hey, guys!" T-Dog stopped us. In his hand he held up a ratty old doll. "Isn't this Sophia's?"

We didn't have time to answer him as Andrea was sprinting over to us. "Oh my god! Oh my god! Is he dead?" She asked frantically.

"No," I answered. "Thank fuck you're a bad shot because you only grazed him. He's just unconscious."

Rick and Shane brought Daryl into one of the bedrooms in the house under the instructions of Hershel. I sat outside on the floor with Lori. After a while Rick and Shane came out and Lori and I stood.

"He'll be fine," he said. "He just needs to rest." I didn't feel the need to hear any more of the conversation so I went back outside to offer to keep watch until dinner time.

I was sitting at what I dubbed the "kiddie table" with Glenn, Maggie, Jimmy, and Beth. Everyone else was at the dining table, minus Daryl, who was still in bed. To say this dinner was slightly awkward was a vast understatement. No one at either table was saying anything. At least the food was good.

"Anyone know how to play guitar?" Glenn suddenly asked, trying to break the awkward tension. "Dale found a cool one on the highway." No one said anything for a second.

"Otis did," Patricia said quietly. Well that just made things even more awkward.

"Yes," Hershel added, "and he was very good."

Glenn turned around in his chair, defeated. I cleared my throat. "Uh, I do. A little bit."

Beth looked surprised. "I thought you only sang?"

"I do in the band," I said. "We never really felt the need for two guitarists, but Kyle taught me the basics and a little more."

"Can you play something for us sometime?" Beth asked hopefully.

I shrugged. "Sure." I pushed my seat back and stood up to take my empty plate to the sink. "I think I'm gonna go bring some food to Daryl."

I made him a plate and drink and put it on a little tray to take into him. When I got to the door I used my foot to knock and heard him call for me to come in. I pushed the door open with my hip and went in. He looked back at me and quickly started to pull up the covers to hide his body. Kinda cute actually.

"Brought you some food," I said, putting the tray down on a little dresser next to the bed. I went around the bed and sat in the chair that was facing him. I noticed a few smaller scars on his arms, but those weren't what I wanted to know about. I wanted to see the one I had noticed earlier when Andrea shot him.

"Watchu want?" he asked gruffly.

"To see," I responded, holding his gaze.

"See what?"

"The scar." My eyes trailed down to his covered chest so he knew which one I was talking about.

"You ain't seeing shit," he spat. "Now leave me alone and get out."

I stood from my chair, but I didn't leave. I started to lift up the bottom of my shirt and he looked at me confused. I stopped just above my belly button so he could see. A jagged scar about five inches, slightly curved, right on my lower stomach. His eyes trailed over it in what looked like a look of recognition. Like he knew how it felt. I lowered my shirt and sat down again and looked him straight in the eye. "Let me see."

His jaw clenched as he looked back at me, and he slowly lowered the blanket, stopping right below the scar so I couldn't see anything else. I scooted the chair closer to him to get a better look. It was probably a few inches longer than mine, and looked like he had been cut clean across the chest in one smooth motion. I raised my hand and saw him flinch slightly. My heart went out to him so much in that moment.

I trailed my fingertips softly across the scar, and I heard him suck in a breath. "Your old man an asshole, too?" I asked. He nodded without looking at me.

I stood from my seat and walked around the bed to the door. Before I left I turned to him again. "I had a damaged past too, you know," I said, and he twisted slightly to look at me. "I just didn't let it damage me." I left the room and shut the door quietly behind me.

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><p><strong>Word. So, I know what I'm gonna do with like the next chapter, but not all of it. So I dunno when it'll be up. Plus I have another damn paper due Friday -_- for the same class no less. And I have a ton of reading to catch up on and other shit. Blah.<strong>

**But anyway I hope you enjoyed and PLEASE REVIEW!**


	8. Chapter 8

**And here we gooooo! This chapter is ALL Daryl/Kat WOO! Yeah so I don't really have much to say today.**

**ENJOY AND REVIEW!**

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><p>The next day Daryl was out of the house, but he was still stuck on bed rest in his tent. I could see he was getting restless. He was poking holes in the window of his tent with arrows and smacking things around. He looked like a kid with ADD or something. I walked up to his tent and the flap was open so I just strolled in. He stopped poking holes in the window and adjusted his pillow as he looked up at me.<p>

"You need something?"

"Not really." I smiled. "Just thought you could use some company."

"Don't need company," he remarked. "I should be out there, looking for the girl. Ain't no use sitting around doing nothing all day."

"Well then let's go out and look for her!" He looked at me like I was crazy. "What? You literally _just_ said you wanted to go out find her, and I feel like I haven't been helping enough in the search. So let's do this!"

He looked at me a bit hesitantly before he started to sit up. "Alright, fine."

"Only one thing," I added, smirking at him. "no horses."

He scoffed. "Fine by me. Don't need the damn things tryna kill me again. Can't take my crossbow though. Lost all my arrows during the fall down the fucking cliff, except the one I pulled outta my side. You got anything I can use?"

"I'm keeping my gun," I said, "but you can use my blades. They're pretty badass, if I do say so myself."

I handed him my blades as we left the tent and headed into the woods. He started fiddling with the straps of the blades trying to get them adjusted to fit around his waist. "Damn, woman, you got a tiny ass waist."

"Well, considering I'm only five feet tall I'd say that makes sense." Yes, I was a bit on the short side. I blame my Italian heritage. Hate on it, bitches.

"How old are you anyhow?" he asked.

"Twenty," I answered. "You?"

"Thirty-six," he responded, glancing at me briefly.

I laughed loudly. "Old ass motherfucker."

He finally got the straps adjusted to his waist and glared at me. "Whatever. Let's head this way, get to the creek where I found the doll."

I nodded and we continued on in silence. We walked for a while just observing everything, stopping every once in a while when one of us thought we heard something. We hadn't seen any walkers so far, which was obviously a good thing. We were near the cliff where Daryl had fallen when I heard a noise that sounded like distant splashing. I made Daryl stop walking and listened closely. It sounded again and I knew he heard it this time because he looked at me and nodded over to the edge of the cliff. We crept up to the edge and peered over. My eyes widened.

"Sophia!" I called.

Her head snapped up to find me and I felt my heart jump seeing she was still alive.

"Kat!" she cried, making her way over to the cliff. "Help me please! There's walkers!"

At the word walkers I jumped into action. "Try to start climbing; I'm coming down to get you!" She nodded and started clawing at the dirt to try and make her way up a little.

"No you ain't," Daryl cut in. "I'm going. I'm bigger and stronger."

"Like fucking hell you are! Daryl, you have stitches in your side and head from falling down this cliff _twice_. What happens if they split open? You're fucked. I'm going."

He looked down the cliff and back at me. "Fine. But you better fucking be careful." He stared at me for a moment before he took my hand and squeezed it lightly.

When he released my hand I sat on the edge of the slope and started to kind of slide down it while holding onto some of the trees and vines for support. Sophia wasn't making very good progress, but I couldn't blame her. She was a child for one thing, and she was probably scared shitless and starving and weak.

"I can't do it!" she sobbed, still clawing desperately at the dirt.

"It's ok, sweetie, I'll be right there!" I called. I was a little more than halfway down now. The cliff wasn't very high; the problem was that it was steep.

My foot caught on a root and I lurched forward. I heard Sophia yell out for me as my chest collided with a tree, knocking the wind out of me. I muttered curses and pushed myself away from the narrow limb, trying to steady myself.

"You alright, Kat?" Daryl yelled down.

"Fine! Just keep watch. Don't want any bastards sneaking up on you."

I made it the rest of the way down as fast as I could. When I got to the bottom Sophia threw her arms around my neck and sobbed loudly. I shushed her and stroked her hair. "It's alright," I cooed. "I've got you. You're safe now."

I heard a rustling coming from the bushed ahead of us, and Daryl yelled out in panic. "Shit, Kat, there's walkers! Get back up here now!"

As soon as he said that a walker appeared. It was a young man, maybe a little older than me. His clothes were barely hanging off of him and a chunk of his jaw and neck was missing. Sophia started whimpering at the sight of it and clutched me tighter. I pulled out my gun before he got too close and took care of him. A second walker appeared, this time an old woman with bite marks everywhere. I didn't have time to feel bad as I shot her too.

I turned to Sophia and took her small face in my hands. "Here's what we're gonna do. I want you to get on my back, like a piggy-back ride, and I'm gonna get us back to the group, ok?" She nodded, tears spilling from her eyes. "Ok, get on. Remember, it's just a piggy-back ride. And hold on tight." I knelt down slightly so she could wrap her arms and legs around me tightly. Thank god children were so light.

I grasped onto some tree limbs and started to haul us up. I was only a little ways into it before Daryl called out again. "Damnit, there's more! Kat, hurry!"

I could hear the growls and moans coming toward us. I looked down and saw three more walkers making their way over. I couldn't get my gun out and shoot them now that my hands were busy gripping the foliage. Sophia was still crying into my back and I knew I had to get us out of there fast. If I made one wrong move and slipped, it was game over for both of us.

I was getting closer to the top now, but the thought of slipping was distracting me. Daryl was yelling words of encouragement at me, and holding out his hand for me to take when I got close enough. I grabbed onto a vine and started to pull myself up when it broke. Sophia shrieked and we slid down. My hand darted out and grasped the nearest tree limb I could find. I wrapped my arms around it to get back into my balance. Sophia was clutching onto me for dear life. I could hear the walkers moan hungrily below us. Daryl yelled that he was coming to get us, but I told him to stay put. How the fuck did he think he was gonna get down here with dual stitches and somehow carry us to the top?

I started more slowly this time, pulling at each vine and limb to make sure they were sturdy. I was so tired, but so close. My arms felt like they were going to give out any minute. I leaned my front against a tree and secured my arms around it to rest for a moment.

"You can do it," Sophia said softly. "I believe in you."

Her tiny words were all I needed. She was counting on me. Carol was counting on me. And in some weird way, Daryl was counting on me too. I looked up and saw his him leaning over as far as his could, his hand stretched toward me. He was probably fucking up his stitches by doing so. I couldn't help but laugh lightly at the thought.

I let out a deep breath and began to climb once more. I was almost there. A few more feet and I could reach Daryl. I hauled myself up a few more times until he was finally within his reach. I grasped his hand tightly and he quickly pulled me back onto the flat ground. I landed next to Daryl in a heap and Sophia fell off my back to my right. We were all panting heavily and Sophia was shaking like a leaf. Daryl turned his head to look at me and I couldn't help it.

I clutched his face in my hands and kissed him forcefully.

I don't even know if he kissed me back or not because I pulled away hastily to check on Sophia. She all but launched herself at me and started crying again. I rubbed her back and tried to calm her down.

"Are you hurt?" I asked, pulling away at shoulders length and looking her in the eye so she knew what I meant. She shook her head. I nodded and pulled her back to me.

I heard Daryl stand behind me. "Come on. We gotta get back."

I stood slowly, pulling Sophia with me. I looked at Daryl and noticed blood staining the side of his shirt. "Your stitches…"

He looked down at his shirt. "I'll have Hershel fix it when we get back. Come on." He nodded his head in the direction of the farm. He wouldn't look at me. I probably embarrassed him. Or scared him. Or both. Probably both.

I held Sophia close to me as we started our journey back to the farm.

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><p><strong>Awww shit! And yes Kat seems a bit young, but that's cause I have a thing for older guys hehe. And I know Norman Reedus is like 43 in real life but I feel like he doesn't look that old. And 43 is a bit of a stretch. Next chapter will probably be up sometime this weekend.<strong>

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Happy Valentine's Day my lovelies! Even though it's technically not anymore. So this chapter is kinda short and sucky but I wanted to update something because I clearly haven't been on my A-game seeing as though I haven't updated in like a week. Sorry! Been a busy bee. I got a few more reviews which was AWESOME and thanks to those who did! I think that's all I have to say..**

**ENJOY!**

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><p>We made it back to the farm without any trouble. We broke through the trees and I could soon hear yelling coming from camp. Everyone began running towards us as fast as they could, with Carol in the front calling out for her daughter. Sophia broke free from me and ran straight to Carol. They both hugged each other for dear life and cried in happiness. It reminded me of one of those corny scenes you see in movies, but it was pretty touching, especially in this world. When Daryl and I got closer to them Carol grabbed me and pulled me into their embrace. Daryl didn't stop; he kept going toward the house with his hand slightly at his side.<p>

"Oh, Kat, thank you so much!" Carol sobbed. "I don't know how I can ever repay you." I hugged her back and watched Daryl keep going into the house over her shoulder. Rick pat him on the back but everyone else was coming over to where I was. It made me sad to see no one give Daryl any credit. No one appreciated him and he did so much.

I pulled away from Carol. "Don't mention it," I said softly. "I'm gonna go get cleaned up, I'll be back in a bit." She nodded tearfully and started to lead Sophia back to the group.

I got a pair of clean clothes from my car and headed to the house. I wanted to take a quick shower just to wash all the dirt and grime off me so I could check on Daryl faster. While I was rinsing off I finally notice a big, ugly bruise on my left side near my ribcage. Well that's fantastic. I must've gotten it when I fell into that tree on the climb down. I washed over it gingerly and noted the horrid green and purple color it was. It looked like a giant Barney bruise. Awesome.

I finished up in the shower and swiftly dried off and redressed. I put my wet hair up in a messy bun to get it out of the way. I went downstairs and found Hershel washing his hands in the kitchen.

"Everybody's outside," he said when he saw me coming. "I fixed up Daryl; tell him he ought to be more careful."

I nodded at him. "Thanks."

I went outside and saw everyone sitting around a fire, including Maggie, Jimmy, and Beth. Sophia was curled in Carol's lap and Carl was sitting next to them, chatting excitedly with her. It was incredibly cute to watch, especially since I'm sure Sophia could use a friend right now. Everyone seemed to be in good spirits, which I hadn't seen since Sophia got lost. I pulled up a camping chair and sat across from Daryl. He was still avoiding looking at me. Who knew a grown man would be so freaked out by a little kiss?

We all conversed amicably for a while with lots of laughter and jokes. It almost seemed like the world went back to normal. Like we were all just old friends shooting the shit, not worrying about undead cannibals trying to eat us alive.

"So Kat," T-Dog said, breaking me out of my thoughts, "I gotta know, man. What was it like?"

I raised an eyebrow at him. "What was what like?"

He laughed and made a wide gesture with his arms. "You know, living the high life! Being rich and famous!"

"Yeah!" Carl said excitedly. "It must've been amazing!"

I chuckled as everyone turned their attention to me. "I couldn't tell you really. I mean, having all those fans and playing shows was awesome, but as for the whole "rich" part I wouldn't really know." I smiled lightly, thinking about the times me and the guys would have practice in Kyle's garage, dreaming of one day becoming huge. "It was like it happened overnight. One day we're nobodys, the next suddenly somehow everyone knows who we are. Before all this happened we were on our first real tour, so we didn't even see much of the money because we never finished. Our show in Atlanta was when the shit really hit the fan." I looked at Glenn and he was staring at the ground, no doubt remembering the horrible events of our last concert.

Beth spoke up timidly. "Can I ask…what happened to the rest of the band?"

I licked my lips and stared into the fire. I didn't really want to talk about it, but I knew it was bound to come up eventually. I sighed and began. "Well, I had taken my little sister on tour with us. Rebecca. She was nine. See, our…_father_ wasn't the nicest man." I hissed out the word like it was venom, not wanting to remind myself of that son of a bitch. Shit. I had almost forgotten they had no idea what happened. I couldn't tell them, so I had to make something up. "I didn't want her around him anymore, so I figured I would take her with us. The guys loved her and none of the crew minded, so it wasn't a problem. My aunt and uncle lived in Atlanta, so I figured she could go visit them during our show. After security dragged us off stage and onto our tour bus we ended up at a hotel where some of the crew was staying. Me and the guys decided to try and get out of the city, but obviously I couldn't just leave her. We borrowed a crew member's car and took off to my aunts. When we got there…" I paused, remembered what happened next, and how I'll never forget it. I fought back the tears that started to well up in my eyes. "my aunt must've been bit somehow. She was…she killed Rebecca. Jake used a candlestick to bash her head in. She must've bit my uncle too, because next thing we know he's coming outta nowhere and attacking Brendan. Jake managed to kill him too, but it was too late for Brendan. We searched the house and managed to find a gun in my uncle's closet. And then…Rebecca came back." I closed my eyes and let a tear slip out. I took a deep breath and looked up at everyone. Carol's eyes were brimming with tears and Daryl was staring at me intently. Rick nodded at me to continue. "I did what I had to do," I said finally. I shook my head and tried to recollect myself enough to finish. "After that, Brendan told us to leave him behind. We didn't want to, but it's what he wanted and we knew he would turn eventually. Me Jake and Kyle took whatever we could from my aunt's house and just drove until we ran out of gas. We took whatever we could and just walked from there. One night while we were sleeping Jake turned. I guess my uncle had bit him but he didn't tell us. Kyle woke up to Jake taking a chunk out of his leg. He shot Jake and asked me to shoot him, too. I couldn't do it while he was alive, so I stayed with him through the fever until he finally stopped breathing. I shot him like he asked. Then I was on my own." I sighed deeply as I finished. Talking about everything hurt so much, but I was glad to actually get it out there finally.

Everyone was silent until Beth spoke. "I'm…I'm so sorry."

I shook my head at her. "It's not your fault. But now that I've sufficiently ruined the good mood how but I try to get it back by playing a song like you wanted?"

Her face immediately perked up and Glenn went to get the guitar from his tent. Rick patted me on the shoulder and gave me an understanding look. I smiled at him slightly. Glenn came back with the guitar and I took it from him. I strummed it once and cringed at how out of tune it was. I began plucking each string and tightening or loosening it. When I got it right I strummed absentmindedly and tried to think of a song to play. I looked around at everyone and at the relationships we all had. How we depended on each other, some more than others.

Daryl was still staring at me as I started to play and sing.

_Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh  
>Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh<em>

_I've been roaming around, I was looking down at all I see  
>painted faces, fill places I can't reach<br>You know that I could use somebody  
>you know that I could use somebody<em>

_Someone like you_

I looked up at Daryl as I sang that part. He was still watching me. I held his gaze briefly and looked back at my hands to not make it obvious.

_Off in the night, why'd you live it up, I'm off to sleep  
>waging wars to shape the poet and the beat<br>I hope it's gonna make you notice  
>I hope it's gonna make you notice<br>Someone like me_

I continued the rest of the song, thankfully not screwing anything up under Daryl's watchful gaze. When I finished everyone clapped and cheered lowly. I smiled and bowed my head, grateful to finally be able to do what I love again.

"Your voice is so pretty Kat!" Sophia said sweetly.

I laughed and grinned brightly at her. "Why, thank you Sophia! But if you will excuse me, I'm pretty beat so I must bid you all farewell." Everyone said their goodnights as I bowed and headed to my car.

I looked back and saw Daryl getting up and heading to his tent.

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><p><strong>LONG. ASS. DIALOGUE. Sorry for that. But at least now you know what happened to Kat! Well, some of it tehe. Other than that it kinda sucked but like I said I just wanted to update. Hopefully next chapter will be more exciting, gotta plan it out. And hopefully it won't take forever to update again.<br>Well I hope you enjoyed and PLEASE REVIEW!**

***song is Use Somebody by Kings of Leon, but when I think of Kat singing it I think of Paramore's acoustic cover of it.**

**^That just reminded me of a fun fact! I know that Katt Williams is the name of a black male comedian, but I got her name from a combination of Kat Von D and Hayley Williams, both awesome ladies!**


	10. Chapter 10

**WOW I fucking suck huh guys? Sorryyy I haven't updated! This is just another short shitty chapter because I sometimes just lose motivation and don't want to do anything with my life. Plus I've just been stressed about life shit. Blah. BUT I'm excited to write the next chapter hehe!**

**ENJOY AND REVIEW PLEASE!**

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><p>"Kat, could you go see if Daryl wants some breakfast? Usually he's up by now."<p>

"Sure," I answered Carol as she was making eggs over a fire. I got up and made my way to Daryl's tent. As I got closer, I heard him muttering to himself. It sounded like he was talking to someone in his tent, but everyone was at the fire. I paused so I could eavesdrop for a second. I couldn't hear him clearly, but I heard something about "ain't having no dream" and "stupid red-haired yankee".

Holy shit.

Was Daryl…dreaming about me? I bit my lip to hide my grin at the thought. He totally was. But who the hell was he trying to convince otherwise? I decided to step in.

"Knock knock!" I said, sticking my head into his tent, making him jump.

"Christ, woman! You tryna give me a damn heart attack?" he snapped.

I giggled. "So, uh, how long has this whole talking to yourself and/or hallucinating thing been going on? Because if it's been happening for six months or longer you could be schizophrenic."

"The hell? I ain't no fucking schizo! And I ain't talking to myself neither! Now why don't you do me a favor and git!" He pointed and the tent door angrily.

I smirked and crossed my arms. "Well, you're gonna have to "git" with me because breakfast is ready." I grabbed his hand to pull him with my out of the tent but he yanked it back.

"Look I don't know what the hell you think's going on here, but it ain't nothing!"

I held up a hand and rolled my eyes. "Save it, Daryl. I don't know what I was thinking when I kissed you, but you can't lie to me and try to say you didn't like it. I know you did just by the way you acted after. You just don't know how to handle human affection because you're clearly not used to it." He glared at me and I smiled and tapped my head. "Psychology, remember? Now, whenever you're ready to stop being a big baby come out and eat." I left without another word and plopped down in a chair by the fire. Carol handed me a plate of eggs and gave me a questioning look. "He's coming," I told her.

Moments later Daryl stomped over and sat down heavily into his chair. He glared at me while he took his plate from Carol. I smirked at him and put my fork in my mouth, taking it out slowly to make it look sexual, raising my eyebrows while doing so. His eyes widened slightly and he quickly looked down at his plate, taking a bite of his eggs. I covered my mouth with the back of my hand to hide my grin.

My eyes fixed on Glenn when he stood up, fidgeting nervously. "Uh, guys…" Everyone looked at him, waiting for him to go on. "So…the barn's full of walkers!"

I immediately started choking on my eggs and Glenn looked at me, worried. T-Dog gave me a hard clap on the back and my eggs flew out of my mouth and onto the ground. "What?" I choked out. Before Glenn could even answer Shane was swearing and running toward the barn. The group got up and ran after him, except for me, Sophia, and Carl. Carl and Sophia because their mothers told them to, and me because I wasn't about to go try and smash open a barn full of walkers when none of us had our weapons. Plus, I had eggs to finish.

"What do you think's gonna happen?" Sophia asked after a few minutes of silence, staring at the barn.

"Don't worry," Carl assured her, "my dad will take care of it."

Sophia smiled at him before she turned to me and bit her lip. "Kat…can I ask you something?"

"Sure you can. Ask away," I told her, scraping up the last bit of my eggs and setting the plate to the side. I leaned my elbows on my knees and looked at her.

She blushed and clutched her doll. "Um, why did you um…kiss Daryl?"

I faltered slightly at her question. I had no idea she'd seen that. Before I could answer her Carl cut in. "What? You _kissed_ Daryl? Is it because of what I said?" He said the last part excitedly, and started chatting to Sophia about how I was teaching him psychology and he was using it to observe Daryl. Sophia was listening wide-eyed and amazed.

I couldn't hold in my laughter. They were so fucking cute it was just unbelievable. "You guys gonna play match-making for me and Daryl now?" They both scrunched up their faces in identical expressions and I snorted. So cute.

"No!" Sophia exclaimed. "That's so gross!"

"Bleh!" Carl added, sticking out his tongue for emphasis.

I was still laughing when the rest of the group came walking back over, minus Shane. I figured he was still being a psycho over at the barn. Yeah, go ahead and break it open and get yourself killed, real good idea. Carol and Lori came back over to check on the kids and Sophia eagerly asked if I could teach her psychology like I was Carl. She agreed and I went to get the books I was using out of my car. I saw Daryl coming out of his tent so I made a show of bending over to get my stuff. Not like I had much of an ass, but whatever. When I stood back up fully I noticed him briskly walking away. He said something to Carol and they both started off toward the woods. I felt a pang of jealousy inside me, but there obviously wasn't anything going on between them…was there? I shook my head to clear my thoughts and ushered Carl and Sophia to the porch to start our lesson.

We finished up after about an hour. We hung around the porch with the rest of the group just chatting for a bit. Daryl and Carol had come back earlier and it didn't look like too much went on with them. I was fiddling with the guitar and playing a few songs for the kids when Shane suddenly came storming up with the bag of guns and started handing them out to everyone. I made sure I got mine back and no one ended up with them. Maggie yelled at him to stop, saying her dad would kick us out if he continued. Obviously he ignored her, but when he knelt down and tried to give Carl a gun Lori had enough.

"This is not your call," she snapped, glaring down at him hatefully. "This is not your decision to make."

"Oh shit!" T-Dog yelled.

We all turned to where he was looking, seeing Rick, Hershel, and Jimmy leading two walkers on poles toward the barn. Shane swore and immediately began sprinting toward them, the rest of us following after him. There was a lot of shouting on Rick and Shane's parts about what we should or shouldn't do about the walkers. Shane started shooting at the walker Hershel was holding to prove to him that it wasn't human. And then of course, his psychotic ass decided to break open the locks on the barn.

Me, Daryl, Glenn, T-Dog, Shane, and Andrea all started firing when the walkers came pouring out of the barn. It was a fucking sick thing. Keeping them all locked up in there. I mean, what the fuck? I'd never admit it, but I actually did feel a little bad about killing them. Hershel still considered them his friends and family, and here we all were shooting them right in front of his face. But come on, what did he expect us to do, let them come kill us all? No thanks.

The walkers kept coming and we kept shooting for what felt like hours, but was probably not even five minutes. When the last one hit the ground, we all lowered our weapons and shifted uncertainly. The only sounds now were the sounds of Hershel's sobbing family.

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><p><strong>Bleh. Shit chapter. The next one will lead up to the events in the newest episode. Did anyone else wanna punch Daryl when he was yelling at Carol? I sure did. Anyway, it should be up like this weekend...I have like two tests on Friday and I'm trying to get a new job and they're calling for second interviews that day and I'm so anxious! I want it soooo bad! Ugh! Well, unless I lose my motivation again and don't update for another week.<strong>

**So yeah. Sorry for another lame chapter. Next one should be way better and REVIEWS make me extra happy and I will update faster if I get some!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Do you guys know what today is? It's my motherfuckin birthday! I'm the big 2-0! I'M SO OLD! No but really. It's so weird to think that I'm not a teenager anymore.**

**ANYWAY. Sorry it took long again. I'm so lazy. But I really like this chapter, specifically the end ;D**

**ENJOY AND REVIEW!**

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><p>Everyone was dead silent until Beth's loud sobbing made its way up front. She pushed her way past everyone to the pile of dead bodies. She whimpered and turned over the body of her mother, who was apparently not dead because her arms suddenly shot out at Beth and she started snarling furiously. Beth screamed loudly and everyone rushed to her side to try to pull her away. Rick and I grabbed her shoulders while T-Dog started kicking at her mother's head. We managed to drag her away and Andrea put a pick ax in her mother's skull, killing her permanently.<p>

Beth ripped herself away from us and I stumbled back. Jimmy came and wrapped his arms around her and they, along with Hershel, Maggie, and Patricia, started to head to the house. Rick, Shane, and Glenn followed. The rest of us stood around awkwardly, all wondering what to do. I glanced at the bodies warily before I started kicking them lightly, just to make sure they were really dead. Andrea and T-Dog started to do the same.

I was finishing up with the last bodies when Rick came back. "So, what do we do now?" Lori asked.

"We'll start digging graves for Annett and Sean," Andrea answered. "We bury our loved ones and burn the rest." She went into the barn to get shovels and handed them to me, Daryl, T-Dog, and Shane. I started digging with Andrea and Shane, not that I wanted to, but I figured me and Andrea were obviously a bit weaker so it be better to have three of us dig. It didn't help that my shovel was almost as big as me.

We had a small service for Annett and Sean, with Hershel saying a prayer for his wife and stepson. After it was done the groups dispersed; Hershel's people going to the house and our people to our respective places. I wanted to help Carl and Sophia forget the massacre they just witnessed, so I decided to engage them in some card games.

It was short-lived, however, because not even 20 minutes later Glenn came rushing over to us saying that Beth had fainted and Hershel was nowhere to be found. I left the kids in the care of Carol and ran up to the house along with Rick, Shane, and Lori. Maggie was sitting on the side of the bed next to Beth and Patricia was dabbing her forehead with a wet washcloth. Beth's eyes were vacant and staring straight at the ceiling.

"Beth," I tried, putting my hand on the side of her face, "Beth, it's Kat, can you hear me?" Nothing. I didn't really expect a response, but it was worth a shot.

"She must be in shock. She needs Hershel," Lori said. "Where is he?"

"We don't know," Maggie answered, looking at all of us.

"Looks like he found an old friend," Shane said, turning my attention to him. He was standing by a dresser and holding an old flask in his hand. He turned towards us and held it up so we could see it better.

"No," Maggie stated defensively. "He quit drinking when I was born. He wouldn't even allow alcohol in the house."

"What's the name of the town bar?" Rick asked.

"Lucky's."

"That's where we'll find him. Glenn and I will take a car and go find him." Rick nodded at Glenn and they both left the room, Shane and I following after. Lori stayed behind to see if she could help more. Although I don't know what she could've done, Hershel was the only one who could know for sure what was wrong with Beth.

I made my way back over to the kids and found Carol giving them their lessons. I rubbed my eyes and fought back a yawn. I was fucking exhausted. "Carol, would you mind if I took a little nap?"

She smiled sweetly at me. "Of course, Kat. You look beat. I'll wake you when it's dinner time."

God, I loved her. I swear she was the sweetest woman of the apocalypse. I gave her a quick hug as thanks and went to get in my car. I crawled into my little makeshift nest in the back and it was lights out as soon as my head hit the pillow.

I woke up to a soft tapping. At first my mind went into overdrive, but I settled down when I saw Carol trying to peer into the window. I leaned over sleepily and opened the door. "Food?" I asked groggily.

She laughed lightly. "Yes, dinner's ready. Come one before it gets cold."

I pushed my blanket off me and swung my legs over, hopping out of the car. I ran my hand through my hair and took note that it was now dark out. I must've slept longer than I planned. Whatever, not like they needed me anyway. We got to the house and I plonked down in a seat across from Shane. I noticed Rick and Glenn were still gone. And Daryl wasn't here. Where the fuck was he?

"Andrea, can you call Lori?" Carol asked the blonde.

"She's not in there," Andrea answered immediately.

"She's not outside…"

"Well, where is she?" Shane demanded.

Everyone was silent for a second before we all jumped into action. Patricia and Maggie went to check the rest of the house while everyone else ran outside. Andrea and I ran to her tent to check but to no avail. I was checking around the area when I saw Carol heading off farther away from the group, where I could make out the faint outline of a tent. The fuck? Since when was anyone's tent over there?

I followed her silently until I could make out Daryl's form sitting in a chair poking at his own little fire. So that's where he went. Motherfucker must've moved his tent while I was sleeping. But why the fuck would he do that? I stood behind a tree and peeked out slightly, hoping they couldn't see me in the dark. Apparently Lori had asked Daryl to go after Rick and Glenn but he refused, making him believe she probably went out herself. He got up from his seat and started yelling at her angrily, which pissed me off to no end. I couldn't hear exactly what they were saying, but it sounded like Daryl was berating her for keeping an eye on him. I clenched my fists while he got in her face, but when I saw her flinch and him raise a hand that's when I lost it.

I stormed over to them and put myself in between them, facing Carol. "Carol, go back to your tent," I said calmly. Her eyes flickered to Daryl briefly before she looked back at me. "Carol," I said again, this time more slowly, "go to your tent." She cast one last glance at Daryl before she turned and headed off.

"Great, now I gotta fucking deal with you, too," Daryl snapped from behind me.

I rounded on him and smacked him across the face as hard as I could. His head snapped to the side and his eyes were wide with shock. It was only for a second though, before they narrowed and he slowly turned his head back to face me. His jaw was set tight and he was letting out deep, slow breaths through his nose. My breathing matched his as I stepped up closer to him. "What are you gonna do," I snarled, "hit me?"

When he made no moves to say or do anything I took a step back. He squared his shoulders and tilted his chin up a bit and I scoffed. "Ooh, look at you!" I mocked. "Big tough man Daryl! I don't give a _fuck_ how big you are; if you _ever_ raise a hand on any woman in this camp I will kill you so fast you won't even have time to think about."

He briskly stepped towards me and pointed a finger in my face. "You ain't gonna do shit, pipsqueak. Just cause you got daddy issues don't mean you can "relate" to me or whatever the fuck it is you're tryna do! Just leave me the hell alone!"

Oh, _hell_ no he did not just call me pipsqueak. As if I already wasn't pissed off enough at him. I shoved him hard in the chest and he stumbled back slightly. "And what the fuck are you gonna do if I don't, huh? You gonna fucking hit me? Go ahead, fucking hit me then, I dare you!" I shoved him again. "That what your piece of shit brother taught you? That to "be a man" you gotta hit people weaker than you?" Another shove. "Just because you're not man enough to handle your goddamn feelings doesn't mean you have to fucking take it out on other people!" I pushed him one final time.

"Don't you fucking touch me!" he yelled. "And don't fucking tell me about my goddamn feelings! I don't got any fucking feelings for you! And for anyone else in this camp for that matter!"

I pushed him hard again, this time making him fall back into his camping chair. I quickly straddled him and crushed my lips to his. His hands moved to my thighs to push me off, but I placed my hands over his and held them there. He didn't respond for a few seconds, but then I felt his hands tighten slightly on my legs, and he started to move his lips against mine. I opened my mouth to let his tongue in and ran my hands up his muscled arms to his hair. His fingers danced across my thighs before traveling up my back, one going to the back of my neck. Our hands were clawing desperately at hair, skin, clothes, anything as our tongues battled for dominance.

I don't know how long we spent like that. What felt like hours was probably only minutes. What I do know is that it came to an end when Daryl pulled away abruptly. We stared at each other, breathing heavy. He suddenly pushed me off him roughly and I landed on my ass on the ground. He stood up and glared at me before he stomped off into his tent without a word.

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><p><strong>WOOO! Angry making out! FUCK YEAH. Well I really hope you guys liked that and now I am off to bed!<strong>

**IT'S MY FUCKING BIRTHDAY SO LEAVE ME REVIEWS!**

**Please.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Ugh, sorry guys. This week was fucking CRAZY with school work because now we're on break! BUT to make up for it this chapter is TEN pages long! Seriously, why the fuck can't I write essays like this? It's kinda boring...eh. Were you guys as pissed as I was when they killed Dale? WTF!  
>Anyway thanks to the few people who reviewed and wished me happy birthday :D<strong>

**One last thing, I didn't include any of the shit with Beth because I really didn't care that much. Hope I'm not the only one...**

**ENJOY AND PLEASE REVIEW! **

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><p>When I finally got myself together I got off the ground and dusted the dirt off my ass. I stared at Daryl's tent for a second before approaching headlights caught my attention. Someone was back. I cast one last look at the tent before heading toward the house to see who it was.<p>

When I got there I saw it was Shane's car. He and Lori got out and everyone immediately crowded them, asking Lori what happened and if she was alright. "Where's Rick?" she asked. Everyone looked around at one another, confused. Realizing what this meant, she turned and glared hatefully at Shane. "You lied to me?"

He shook his head and tried to reason with her. "I had to get you back here…I gotta make sure you and the baby are alright." Everyone froze when he said this. She was pregnant? When the hell did this happen? Why would she be dumb enough to _let_ this happen? And why didn't she tell us?

"You're having a baby?" Carl emerged slowly from behind the group, staring at his mother with wide eyes. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Before Lori could say anything Dale spoke. "Why don't we have this conversation inside?" He and Andrea quickly ushered them to the house, Shane following like a timid dog.

I shook my head walked away. All this drama was way too much for me to handle right now. I mean, we're in the middle of a zombie apocalypse and there's still teenage-level drama going on. Go fucking figure. I got to my car and hopped inside, locking the doors and putting up my makeshift curtains on the windows. If anyone disturbed me they would be losing a limb. I peeled off my pants and snuggled under the blankets of my little bed, hoping to just forget all of the bullshit going on until tomorrow.

I woke up to someone rapping on my window. I moaned and sat up sleepily, pulling back the curtain a bit to see Andrea outside. "We're getting ready to go look for the others," her muffled voice reached my ears. "If you wanna come you better get up now." I gave her a nod and let the curtain fall back into place.

I quickly slipped on a random pair of jeans and a Bruins shirt and pulled my long hair back into a ponytail. I put on my trusty combat boots and hopped out, grabbing my guns and swords. I situated them around my waste, guns in the front and knives slightly behind them. Thank god they weren't heavy or else I probably would've been fucked with that whole walking thing. T-Dogg once asked me why I didn't just pick one to carry with me, but I just couldn't choose. The swords were awesome curved blades that I looted from some Arabian Knights store, and the guns had silencers so they were perfect. I even cut off the bottom of their holsters, and made a longer bottom part with duct tape so I could just leave the silencers on all the time. Plus I liked to tell myself carrying all that made me look tougher. It probably really didn't but whatever.

By the time I made it over to where Daryl, Andrea, Shane, and T-Dogg were getting ready, Hershel's car was driving up the road. Well, I'm glad I just did all that for nothing. Everyone quickly gathered to the front of the house when the car pulled up. Hershel, Rick, and Glenn got out, all perfectly fine. Maggie ran straight past her father and threw her arms around Glenn. I almost laughed at that, but I would've felt bad so I held it in. Rick and Hershel were bombarded with questions until T-Dogg spoke up. "Who the hell is that?"

Everyone turned their attention to what we hadn't noticed before. Some kid was passed out in the backseat of Hershel's car with a blindfold around his head. "We need to get him inside," Rick said. "Then we'll discuss it." He and Glenn dragged the kid out of the car and carried him into the house. I noticed a piece of cloth tied around his leg, and blood stains on his paints. What the fuck happened out there?

The group gathered in the dining room of the house, where Rick explained what happened. When they found Hershel at the bar two sketchy men had showed up, and Rick killed them because one of them drew on him. Randall, the kid, shot at them from a roof outside, but when he tried to jump off he somehow impaled his leg on a fence. His remaining men drove off and left him there, so Rick ripped his leg off the fence and brought him back. We all sat there and let this new information sink in when Hershel walked in. "I stitched his leg, but he won't be able to walk on it for at least a week."

"What should we do with him?" Andrea asked.

"Well, when he heals up we can drive him away from the farm and let him go," Rick sighed.

Shane put his hands on his hips. "He's a threat, man. If we just let him go he could lead the others back here. Or what if they come looking for him? I say we just get rid of him." I raised a brow at this. Was he seriously suggesting we kill the kid?

Hershel stood up and got in Shane's face. "Listen, this is my farm and my land. You don't have a say in the matter so why don't you just keep your mouth shut." Shane scoffed at him before he left the house fuming. I bit my lip to hide my grin. Fuck yeah, Hershel.

"I guess that's it then," Rick said, also leaving the house. The rest of us followed.

The next week went by uneventfully. I still hadn't seen Randall fully, I just caught a glimpse of him when Rick and Shane moved him out of the house and into a shed near the barn. Poor kid. His own group abandoned him and now he was getting shit from another group.

Daryl hadn't really talked to me since the night of our makeout session, only when completely necessary. But it was like he couldn't be around me for more than five minutes. What was it with him? Any guy would probably love it if some famous chick threw themselves at him, but Daryl was just like "eeee!" My little scouts Sophia and Carl told me that he sometimes watched me though, so I knew he had to be feeling something.

The day that Rick and Shane went to drop Randall of they didn't actually do it. While we all waited anxiously for them to come back, they did so with Randall still with them. Shane stalked off to tie him back up and Rick explained that Randall told them he went to school with Maggie, so he was worried he'd somehow bring his men to the farm.

The morning after we all fiddled around the fire while Daryl was sent to "interrogate" Randall. AKA probably beat the shit out of him and threaten to kill him.

"Are we gonna keep him here?" Glenn asked.

"We'll know soon enough," Rick answered, nodding toward Daryl, who was walking over to us. He was wearing a long sleeved shirt for once, with his black winged vest over it. His knuckles were bloody and bruised. Is it bad that I was thinking about how hot he looked at a time like this?

He stopped when he was in front of us. "Boy there's got a gang, thirty men. They got heavy artillery and they ain't looking to make friends. They roll through here, our boys are dead. Our women…they're gonna wish they were." He glanced at me quickly before looking back at Rick.

"What did you do?" Carol asked softly.

"We had a little chat," he said simply, walking off to stand by a tree, slightly away from us.

"No one goes near this guy," Rick demanded. Lori asked what he planned to do. "We have no choice, he's a threat. We have to eliminate the threat."

"You're just gonna kill him?" Dale asked incredulously.

"It's settled," Rick said firmly. "We'll do it today."

"Wait," I spoke up. He stopped and turned to look at me, as did everyone else. "Let me talk to him."

Shane scoffed. "What are you gonna do? Sing him a song?"

"Uh, no, jackass," I sneered, crossing my arms, "Remember, I'm extremely good at psychology. I can read people. I'll know if he's being honest. And I won't have to beat the shit out of him to do it." I could see Daryl staring at me from the corner of my eye, but I refused to look at him.

Rick sighed. "Fine. You can talk to him. But I'm just gonna let you know it probably won't change my mind." He walked away, Dale following, probably trying to convince him not to kill the kid.

I began walking in the direction of the shed Randall was in. I agreed with Dale. We couldn't just kill him. He was probably no older than me. And he didn't exactly do anything wrong, Rick killed his men, so he shot at Rick. Any of us probably would've done the same thing.

"What do you think you're doing?"

I rolled my eyes and kept walking. "I thought I made it pretty clear." So he could ignore me all week and then suddenly think it was ok to talk to me? I don't think so.

Daryl caught up to me and grabbed my arm. I turned to face him sharply and he let me go. "Yeah, and what the hell you gonna do? Use your mind tricks to try and make him a good person? The men he was with gang raped two teenage girls. They made the father watch. He told me."

As soon as I heard the word rape my jaw set tightly. I looked at the ground and shook my head. "His men. Not him. He's just a stupid kid who obviously doesn't have the balls to stand up to anyone."

"He's a stupid kid who could hurt you."

I laughed. "Please, I have two guns and two swords. What does he have? Oh right, nothing. I appreciate the concern, but I'll be fine." I started to walk off again before I stopped and turned back. "Oh, and Daryl?" I walked up to him and he looked at me quizzically. I grabbed the back of his neck and kissed him deeply before pushing him away. I continued on my way to the shed, a smirk of triumph on my face.

When I got to the shed I could hear Randall calling out that he was thirsty. Sucks for him. I put in the code on the lock and pulled the wooden door open. Randall was pulling at his chains trying to get free. He had cuts on his lip and nose, and his left eye was bruised and swollen. Damn, Daryl really did a number on him.

"Doing that's only gonna fuck up your wrists," I told him, pulling over a stool and plopping down onto it.

He stopped his movements and studied me for a moment. "H-hey I know you," he said, standing to his feet. "You're that singer, right? Yeah, that band, uh, Breaking Bad! There's people at my camp who are big fans of yours. If you let me go, I could take you to them!"

I snorted and raised an eyebrow at him. "Spare me. Daryl told me what kind of people you hang out with. You don't strike me as the rapist type."

"I didn't do nothing!" he cried. "I ain't like that. I would never hurt a girl like that. I had a sister that age…" He dropped his head, his eyes brimming with tears. I could tell they were genuine, because when people tried to fool you they'd hold eye contact, try to make you feel bad.

I got up and grabbed him by the neck. "Then why the _fuck_ didn't you do anything to stop them?" I growled.

"I don't know," he said softly, still not looking at me. "I guess I was afraid of what they'd do to me." I let him go roughly and he sank to his knees in defeat. "You gotta believe me. I'd never hurt anyone."

"Why the fuck do you even wanna go back to them? You really think they give a shit about you?"

"I don't got anywhere else to go, do I?" He looked up at me again, and he looked like a beat puppy. Like he just wanted to find somewhere to fit in.

"How old are you anyway?" I asked.

"Nineteen."

"How did you go to school with Maggie if you're three years younger than her?"

"We weren't in the same grade," he said, shuffling around trying to get comfortable. "But we went to the same school. I was a freshman when she was a senior. She was a popular girl."

I nodded at him and turned to leave. "You know if you weren't such a dumbass you could probably stay here. Just gotta prove yourself. Don't know why the fuck you'd wanna go back to those people anyway." He didn't say anything as I shut the door and relocked it.

Andrea was making her way down when I started walking back. "He say anything?"

"Eh," I shrugged. "I don't really think he's a threat. I think he just wants to find somewhere he belongs."

"Dale sent me down here to make sure no one tries anything." She looked to her right where Shane was walking over, Carl in tow. "Guess I better get down there."

"Let me know if you need any help," I told her, beginning back on my trek to the camp. When I passed Shane he glared at me. I smiled sweetly at him just to be a dick.

I didn't even make it back to camp before I was stopped again, this time by Dale. "I need to talk to you, Kat."

"About Randall?" I asked, cutting right to the chase. I really just wanted to get back to camp and play some guitar.

"You already know how I feel about it," he said. "But I need to know what you think. Judging by the way you acted this morning, I think you agree with me."

"I do. I don't think we should just kill the poor kid. If anything we should just drive somewhere and let him go like we originally planned. I don't understand why that's such an issue."

"Thank you, Kat. You're one of the only people who agrees with me. There'll be a meeting at sundown at the house, I'll see you there." He nodded in gratitude and walked off, no doubt going to talk to someone else.

When I finally made it back to camp I immediately grabbed the guitar and sat down heavily in one of the lawn chairs. Carol and Sophia were painting each other's nails with some polish I had given them and talking quietly. The sight made me smile. I was so glad we found Sophia and that she was alright. It was like there was a little bit of hope left in this god-forsaken world. I strummed on the guitar and Sophia looked over at me and smiled brightly. I smiled back and began to sing softly while I played. It was a slow song Kyle had written when we first got our big break, and it was one of my favorites. I smiled slightly when I thought about all the good times we had together as a band. When I finished the song Sophia clapped happily and asked me to play more. I did a few more songs and then I just fiddled with the guitar while we chatted about life before the apocalypse.

Time passed quickly and soon Rick was waving to us from the porch, signaling that it was time for the meeting. Carol and Sophia started walking to the house and I walked off to quickly find Daryl. He was just leaving his little living area when I got there. "You coming to get me?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said, falling into step with him. "How'd you know it was time?"

He nodded at the sky. "Sundown."

"Right," I said, feeling stupid.

We walked in silence for a few moments until Daryl cleared his throat awkwardly. "Uh, 'bout last week…"

I knew he wouldn't say what he really wanted to, so I had to take the lead. I stopped walking and took his arm, making him stop too. "Look, I don't have time to bullshit. I like you. And from the way you act I'm guessing you like me too, you just don't know how to admit it. Or maybe you don't want to. But I know you do, and that's all that matters, ok?"

He stared at me before nodding shortly, beginning to walk again. "I'm uh, I'm sorry for yelling at you. And Carol. Wasn't right."

"That's fine. Just don't let it happen again, or you'll be getting a lot more than a smack." I smirked at him and he gave me a small smile back. After that we fell into a comfortable silence.

Inside the house everyone was sitting or standing around, minus Beth, Carl, Jimmy, and Sophia. I hopped up onto the piano, letting my legs dangle off the side. Glenn, who was sitting on the bench below me, was first to speak. "So, how do we do this? Take a vote?"

"Let's just see where everyone stands," Rick said. "Then we can talk through the options." He leaned his arm against the back of a couch, looking around at everyone.

"Hell, the way I see it there's only one way to move forward." Shane said.

"Killing him," Dale spat, bringing everyone's attention to him. We all knew how he felt about this. "Right? I mean why even bother to take a vote?"

Rick jumped in quickly. "Well, if people think we should spare him I wanna know."

"It's a small group," Dale said, shaking his head. "Maybe just me, Kat, and Glenn."

Glenn looked at the floor in shame before motioning to Dale. "Look, I usually agree with you all the time, but I just-"

"They've got you scared!" Dale exclaimed, cutting him off.

"He's not one of us!" Glenn argued.

"I wasn't one of you," I reminded him. "You took me in no problem."

"That's different. I knew who you were."

"No you didn't," I countered. "Sure, you'd seen me in concert and maybe in interviews on TV, but you had no idea what I was like outside of all that. I could've been a psychopath for all you knew."

"You didn't try to kill us," Rick added.

I looked up at the ceiling and pretended to think. "If I remember correctly, I held a gun on both T-Dogg and Daryl within five minutes of meeting you."

"That's because T-Dogg was going through your things and Daryl insulted you."

"Still, you can't just kill him because he shot at you. You killed two of his men, remember? Any one of us would've done the same thing if we were in that situation. Why can't we just drop him off somewhere like originally planned? Or hell, even keep him here. You really think he'd go running back to those people? They left him with his leg impaled on a fence to be torn apart by undead cannibals. _We_ saved him. If anything he should _want_ to stay with us."

"She's right!" Dale said. "Give him a chance to prove himself!"

"We could put him to work," Glenn offered.

"I wouldn't feel safe unless he was tied up," Lori said.

"Nobody is walking around with this guy," Rick said forcefully.

I scoffed. "Please. You act like he's as old as you. He's _nineteen_. He's younger than me for christ's sake! He's practically a kid."

"We can't exactly put chains around his ankles sentencing him to hard labor," Andrea said.

"Look," Shane started, "maybe we keep him here, make him one of us. Maybe he's nice, we let our guard down. He runs off and brings back his thirty friends."

"Ok, seriously, what don't you get about _they don't care about him_?" I asked sarcastically, glaring at Shane. "They left him to die!"

"If we do this, we're saying there is no hope. Rule of law is dead, there is no civilization!" Dale was pleading with everyone, trying to make them see his point.

"If you go through with it…how would you do it?" Patricia asked, this being the first time she spoke up. "Would he suffer?"

"We could hang him, right?" Shane looked at Rick. "Snap his neck."

"You say that so casually that it kind of scares me," I said to Shane, and he gave me a dirty look in return.

"What about the body?" T-Dogg asked.

"Woah, woah, woah, hold on!" Dale yelled. "You're talking about this like it's already decided!"

"Been talking about it all day," Daryl threw in. "Going around in circles you just wanna go around in circles again?"

"This is a young man's life! And it is worth more than a five minute conversation. You _saved_ him, and now look at us! How are we any better than those people we're so afraid of?" Nobody would look at Dale as he said this. I could see tears forming in his eyes. "Please, let's just do what's right. Isn't there anyone besides Kat who's gonna stand with me?"

There was a few seconds of silence until Andrea spoke up. "He's right. We should try to find another way."

"Anybody else?" Rick asked. No one said anything.

"Are ya'll gonna watch, too?" Dale laughed dryly. "No, you'll just hide your heads in your tents and try to forget we're slaughtering a human being." He shook his head in disbelief. "I won't be a party to it." He started to make his exit, but before he left he put a hand on Daryl's shoulder. "You were, right. This group is broken." And he left without another word.

Everyone looked at the ground and Rick sighed heavily. "Well, it's settled then." He left the house and the majority of us followed him.

Everyone went and sat around the fire Glenn was starting. It was still silent. In the distance I could make out Daryl, Rick, and Shane leading Randall to the barn. Like a pig to a slaughterhouse. Glenn glanced at me and I shook my head at him. How could he get Dale's hopes up like that just to disagree with him in the end? I didn't even know where he went.

We all sat quietly around the fire until we saw Rick coming back, leading Carl in front of him. Glenn and Maggie stood up from their seats and followed him with their eyes. He stopped in front of Lori and everyone stared at him anxiously.

"We're keeping him in custody…for now," he said finally. I let out a sigh of relief. Maggie turned and walked back to the house, and Andrea stood up and went to find Dale.

"Carl go inside," Lori said, still staring at Rick. "Now, please." Carl hung his head and glumly went inside the tent.

"He followed us," Rick told her softly. "He wanted to watch." My eyes widened when he said this. What the fuck? Carl, the sweet young boy, wanted to _watch_ someone get executed? I would have to have a talk with him tomorrow. "I couldn't do it."

"That's ok." Lori put a hand on the side of his face. "That's ok." She wrapped her arms around him in a hug. When she pulled away they both sat down at the fire. We lapsed into an awkward silence, everyone lost in their own thoughts.

It didn't last very long, however, because a scream from the fields tore through the night. Everyone jumped up and sprang into action. Carol and Lori quickly ushered the kids into the house and Rick led us all into a sprint through the fields. Another loud cry sounded out and I recognized the voice. It was Dale. Rick kicked open the fence leading into the pastures and I could see a figure jumping and waving their arms in the distance. We ran over as fast as we could and I saw that the person was Daryl. I immediately stopped running and choked back a sob when I saw Dale. He was lying on the ground with his stomach torn open, a dead walker lying a few feet away.

Rick kneeled down and put his hands on Dale's face. "Dale, look at me, it's gonna be ok. Get Hershel!"

Andrea dropped to her knees beside Dale and clutched his hand. I gripped Daryl's arm and could feel warm tears running down my cheeks. Rick was still yelling for Hershel, but deep down I knew. I knew Dale wouldn't make it. There was no way. He was staring up at us wide-eyed and groaning and writhing in pain. He was going into shock.

"What can we do? Can we move him?" Rick frantically asked Hershel when he arrived.

Hershel bent down to examine Dale. "He won't make the trip."

"Then we'll do the surgery here. Glenn go back to the house, get the supplies!"

"Rick…" Hershel said, standing up and putting a hand on his shoulder. He shook his head sadly. I buried my face in Daryl's arm and tried to block out the sound of Dale's groans of agony.

"He's suffering…do something!" Andrea sobbed loudly.

Rick pulled out his gun and aimed it at Dale's head, but it was clear he couldn't do it. I felt Daryl move away from me and saw him take the gun from Rick. He got down on one knee and put the gun against Dale's forehead. I turned away and bent down to hug my knees. I couldn't watch.

"Sorry brother," Daryl said. I heard the gunshot and I cried harder.

It wasn't just the death of Dale. It was the death of humanity.

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><p><strong>Poor Dale :( Fucking Carl! So after tonight's episode I'll probably update during the week because it's SPRING BREAK and then I won't again until next week sadly because I'm following the story line. But fear not, I'm obviously not gonna make you wait the ridiculous 8 months until season 3, I do have my own ideas! I'm kind of excited...<strong>

**Seriously though, if you could PLEASE leave me a review it'd be great. I wanna know if I'm like keeping Daryl in character and whatnot. When I'm on tumblr I see all these people bashing the stories on here so I'm like OH GOD MY STORY SUCKS! So PLEASE let me know what you think!**

**PS - I'm gonna bribe you guys real quick...if you review maybe next chapter I'll put a *gasp* SEX SCENE! Bow chika wow woowww!**


	13. Chapter 13

**I'M SO SORRY! I know I said I'd have a chapter up LAST week but I ended up having orientation for my job and all this shit. But OMG I got so many reviews and whatnot thank you so much! Maybe I should bribe you with sex more often. And yes, as promised there is a sex scene at the beginning so be warned. It kinda sucks but whatever.**

**HOLY SHIT THE FINALE. I'm kind of excited to write that chapter so hopefully it'll be up sooner than this one was. And then I have my own ideas wooo!**

**ENJOY AND REVIEW!**

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><p>I was still crying quietly when someone lifted me off the ground. "Come on," he said softly. I let him lead me, one arm holding onto my waist while I stumbled along with him. We made it to his tent and he sat me down on his cot and went to zip the tent closed. I wiped my tears away and sniffled. "You can stay here tonight if you want," he said, still with his back to me.<p>

I stared at the back of his vest for a second before I reached down to undo my boots, sliding them off. I peeled off my jacket next and tossed it onto the floor. He was watching me now. It was my turn to turn my back on him as I lifted my shirt over my head and dropped it to the ground with my jacket. I could feel the heat from him as he walked up behind me. I felt his fingers on my back and shivered. "Didn't know you had these," he said, tracing the feathered pattern of the winged tattoos all the way down my back.

"You didn't ask," I said gently, turning to face him. I looked up at him as he stared at me intently. I knew what I wanted. What I needed. I stepped closer to him, so that we were just inches apart.

"What are you doing?" he asked, but he didn't step back from me.

I stood on my toes so my lips were inches from his. "What you won't." I pressed my lips softly onto his, gripping his face in my hands. I pulled back when he didn't respond. His eyes were searching mine, for what I didn't know. Did he think I really didn't want this? I let my hands fall to his neck and I pressed my body against his. He tensed for a second, before he finally dropped his hands to my waist and kissed me deeply.

His tongue entered my mouth and we battled for dominance. I ran my hands down to his shoulders and pushed his jacket off, walking backwards until the backs of my knees hit the bed. I pulled him down with me, our mouths still connected. My legs parted so he could kneel between them, and I worked on unbuttoning his shirt as his hands ran up my thighs, stopping when they got to my stomach. He broke our kiss so he could examine the scar that I'd shown him before, running his fingers over the jagged line. When I got his shirt off I was face to face with his own scars, of course he had a lot more than I did.

My eyes on him seemed to make him self-conscious, his movements seeming more timid. I knew he wouldn't progress if I kept staring at him, so I unbuttoned my jeans and slowly slid them off, hoping it would snap him out of it. It didn't, and when I reached for his pants he stopped me. "You, uh…you sure you wanna do this?" Daryl asked, avoiding eye contact.

I grasped his face gently in my hands and brought him down so I could kiss him again. "Would I be here if I wasn't?" I tried to go for his pants but was once again stopped. I sat up on my elbows and looked him in the eye. "Do _you_ not want this?"

He sat back on his heels. "I can't…I don't know how to be with you. I can't be with you like other guys…" he glanced at my face and I gave him a look that said 'what in the fuck are you talking about'. He huffed. "Goddamnit, Kat, I ain't ever done this shit before!"

Wait, what? Did I hear him correctly or did I just hallucinate? "You mean…you're a virgin?" When he didn't say anything I had my answer. The thought was so absurd and I couldn't help it, I started giggling.

Obviously that wasn't the best thing to do, and when Daryl heard me laughing his face flushed with anger. Or embarrassment. Probably both. "If you're gonna fucking laugh at me you can get the fuck out!"

He made to get off the bed but I grabbed his arm before he could, trying to stifle my remaining giggles. "I'm not laughing at you. It's just—it's cute." Now that I thought about it I actually could see him being a virgin. He clearly didn't have the best social skills, and with his father and brother constantly putting him down he obviously had no confidence either. Before he could say anything else I grabbed the back of his neck, pulling him back on top of me and kissing him forcefully. "Just because you've never done it doesn't mean you don't know what to do. You're a guy, this shit comes natural. Unless…you really don't want to?"

He stared at me intensely for a second before he responded by reconnecting our lips. I smiled and ran my hands down his muscled chest, stopping at his pants. I broke the kiss and looked at him, silently asking if it was ok. He nodded and kissed me again, finally helping me rid him of his pants, leaving both of us half naked.

Daryl's strong hands moved to my back, fumbling with my bra for a second before he unhooked it and slid it off. He studied me for a minute and I couldn't help but blush. He brushed my nipples with his thumbs and I gasped, arching my back and pushing my hips against his. He grunted and started placing sloppy kisses on my chest.

As much as I was enjoying the foreplay, I was getting impatient. I know it was his first time and I should've given him time to explore, but we could do that another time. Right now I just wanted to feel him. I hurriedly removed my panties and went for his boxers. I stopped again, just to make sure he still wanted this. He responded by grasping the waistband of his boxers and pulling them off himself.

Oh fuck yeah.

I bit my lip and grabbed him, running my hand up his length and squeezing the tip slightly. He groaned and I did it again, this time tugging him to bring him to my entrance. "Ready?" I whispered. He nodded, kissing me briefly. I let him go and placed my hand on his hip so he could slowly slide into me. I moaned softly and let my head fall back. When he was all the way in he paused, and I felt him shudder above me.

Daryl started thrusting slowly, and I clutched his hair and brought him down for a passionate kiss. He picked up the pace, and I whined into his mouth. One of his hands came up to grip my hair; the other held my thigh against his side, his fingers digging into my skin. He was thrusting harder now, his hips slamming into mine. I chewed my lip to keep from making too much noise. I was getting close.

"Ya like that?" he growled. I moaned and pushed my body up against his. Hearing his voice like that sent a shock through me, and I knew I wouldn't last much longer. Our bodies were slick with sweat, practically sticking us together. He smashed his lips to mine and shoved his tongue in my mouth, and I felt my release build up like a coil, suddenly springing loose on my entire body. I sucked his tongue to stifle the loud noises I would most definitely be making, and he slammed into me one last time before he stilled, joining me in his own release.

He all but collapsed on top of me, panting and sweaty. After a few minutes he rolled off of me and stared at the roof of his tent. Oh, god. I didn't even think of this part. The awkward moments right after you have sex with someone for the first time. Would we even say anything? No, probably not. I don't think I wanted to anyway.

I settled for leaning over and pressing a soft kiss to his lips, before I rolled over so my back was facing his side. I felt him do the same, so his chest was now against my back. He pulled his blanket on top of us and placed a hand on my hip, but kept moving it and fidgeting, as if he didn't know what to do with it. "Oh, Jesus Christ," I mumbled, grabbing his arm and pulling it so it was completely around my waist. He seemed fine with that, because he settled down and soon after fell asleep.

I laid awake for a little bit, thinking about the events of the day. Our group decided to kill a kid, said kid was still alive, Dale was dead, and I had just had sex with Daryl. I think we both needed it though. It was a temporary escape from everything bad that had happened. I snuggled closer to Daryl's warm body, and eventually fell into a dreamless sleep.

I woke up to the sounds of someone rustling around. I jerked awake, fearing the worst, only to see Daryl stepping into the tent. Where the fuck did he come from? "We were digging a grave for Dale," he told me, as if reading my thoughts. My stomach dropped at his statement. It made Dale's death seem that much more real. "Then a few of us went to scout the area for walkers. Didn't wanna wake you for that but the funeral's gonna be soon so get up if you're coming."

I rolled onto my stomach, stretching out like a cat. "Look like a damn lion," he commented. "All that hair." I smiled at him and shook my head playfully, my hair flying everywhere. He didn't say anything but the corner of his lips twitched in a slight smile.

Daryl turned his back to me while I started to get dressed and I rolled my eyes. Not like he hadn't seen it all. I took the time to take note of what he was wearing. His signature winged vest/jacket and a pair of nice fitting black jeans with a hole in the knee. "Those jeans look so hot on you," I told him. He glanced at me but didn't say anything. "You need to learn how to take a compliment. You're good looking, have some confidence. Shit, I'm surprised none of the other women have tried to tap that."

He turned to me and raised an eyebrow. "You know, when I was little I had a crush on Nicole Kidman. Then Merle told me no woman would ever look at me, especially not some famous pretty lady."

I frowned deeply at his confession. His brother sounded like a real piece of shit. I thought for a second before I grinned. "Well, Merle was obviously wrong." He looked at me curiously and I continued. "I'm a famous pretty lady, and I'm looking at you."

He looked at the ground then back at me. "I guess that's true, ain't it?" I smiled and walked over to him, giving him a quick kiss before we both headed out to Dale's funeral.

Rick gave an incredibly touching eulogy, remarking on how honest and brave he was, how he could see people for who they really were. He said we needed to pull together and un-break the group to honor Dale, and I couldn't agree more. When he was finished we all dispersed, heading back to the house where we were preparing to move in.

"Fourteen people in one house is gonna be tight," Rick told Hershel. "You sure about this?"

"Don't worry about that," Hershel answered. "With the swamp hardening, the creek drying up…shoulda moved you in a while ago."

Everyone started to pack up their things and put them in the cars, getting ready to drive them up to the house for easier access. I offered to help Daryl move his things in my car, even though he insisted he was perfectly capable of walking them himself. I basically just drove to his campsite and didn't give him a choice.

"You sure my stuff's gonna be able to fit in there with all your girly shit?" He asked, wrapping up his tent and gathering the rest of his things.

"Please, this baby can hold anything," I retorted, patting my Escalade affectionately. "Besides, all of my "girly shit" is in the back. Your stuff can easily fit on the middle seats."

He grunted in response and I rolled my eyes. I opened the door for him and he hoisted his tent and clothing bags into the car. When everything was set I hopped into my car to drive back to the house, him following on his motorcycle. He unloaded his stuff and carried it into the house, while I tried to stuff some clothes into a few bags. I had _a lot_ of clothes. I never did laundry when I was by myself, so I just looted stores to make sure I had enough so that I always had clean clothes. Maybe I would give some to Beth or Sophia.

I was still rifling around when Carl approached me. "Kat, can I tell you something?" he asked, looking up at me from under his father's hat.

I sat down on the back of my car to give him my full attention. "Sure, pal. What is it?"

"It's my fault Dale's dead," he mumbled, kicking at the ground glumly.

To say I was extremely startled at his confession was a vast understatement. "Uh, what? Carl how could that possibly be your fault?"

"I saw that walker in the woods. It was stuck in the mud. I was throwing rocks at it and stuff." He wouldn't look at me as he was talking. He hung his head in shame and kept kicking the dirt. "I took Daryl's gun out of his motorcycle bag. I was gonna shoot it, but it got out of the mud and I ran. If I just shot it Dale wouldn't be dead. I gave the gun to Shane and he told me it wasn't my fault, but I know it is."

By the end of his profession he was crying softly. I sighed heavily and ran a hand through my hair, trying to think of what to say to him. I held out my arms. "Come here." He sat next to me and wrapped his arms around my waist. I took off his hat and set it aside so he could lean his head on my shoulder while I stroked his hair. "Look Carl, I'm not gonna sugarcoat this like Shane and say it's not your fault, because it is. And I'm pretty sure that's why you came to me, because you know I'd tell you the truth. I mean, what were you thinking? First off, you took _Daryl's_ gun. If he found out he'd give you an arrow to the knee! And then you antagonized a walker! What about that seemed like a good idea?"

He sniffled and rubbed his head against my shoulder. "I don't know…I thought I'd be able to shoot it. I wanted to be brave."

I leaned my cheek against his head, his hair tickling me slightly. "I know you do, pal, but doing things like that isn't brave at all. It's extremely foolish. I know you want to act like an adult but you need to accept the fact that you're still a kid. Maybe with some training you'll be able to handle yourself, but right now you can't." I took his arms from around my waist and held them, shifting to look him in the eye. "Dale's gone, and there's nothing we can do. You just have to learn from your mistakes, ok?" He nodded at me and I smiled, grabbing his hat and placing it back on his head. I wiped away his remaining tears with my thumbs. "Good, now why don't you help me take my things inside?"

He nodded again and wiped his nose with the back of his hand. "Thanks, Kat."

A little while later everyone was still getting settled at the house when T-Dog came running up exclaiming that Randall was gone. He'd somehow managed to get out of his cuffs and sneak away. Rick led the group down to the shed where he and Daryl inspected the inside.

"What's wrong?" Maggie asked, jogging over to us with Hershel, Beth, Patricia, and Jimmy in tow.

"Randall's missing," Glenn answered.

"The cuffs are still hooked; he must've slipped them," Rick declared, walking back outside and inspecting the front of the shed.

"Is that possible?" Carol asked.

"No," I cut in, walking over to them. "There's no way. I probably couldn't even get out of those and my wrists are half his size."

"Then how did he get out?" Andrea inquired.

I walked into the shed and observed the ground. "I don't know, but the blind fold and duct tape he had on aren't here. He obviously would've taken them off if he got himself free." Something about this situation seemed off to me.

Suddenly a shout sounded from the woods. "Rick! Rick!" It was Shane. He was walking briskly over to us and there was blood coating his nose and dripping down his chin.

"What happened?" Lori yelled.

"He's armed, he's got my gun! Little bastard snuck up on me and clocked me in the face."

"Alright, Hershel, T-Dog get everybody back to the house!" Rick instructed. "Glenn, Daryl come with us."

Shane took T-Dog's gun while Carol pleaded with them not to go. I took Daryl's hand and gave it a quick squeeze before he walked off into the woods. Everyone else was quickly ushered back into the house where Hershel locked the doors. He and Maggie went about setting up beds while it progressively grew darker outside.

I paced around nervously, chewing on my lip and lost in thought.

"Kat, what's wrong?" Andrea asked. "You look like a caged animal."

I stopped my pacing to look at her briefly before I started again. Everyone was staring at me now. "Something's not right. How did this happen? There's no way Randall could've gotten out of those handcuffs. And how did he manage to get Shane like that? Shane's twice his size!"

Lori stood slowly from her place on the sofa. "What are you saying?"

"I think something bad's gonna happen," I said nervously, my eyes darting around at everyone. "I think…oh god…" Suddenly it hit me. The way Shane had seemed to get crazier every day. The venomous looks he gave Rick. The way he wanted to protect Lori's baby. The looks he gave her…

"I'm going after them," I announced, grabbing a flashlight and pulling out one of my guns. If what I was thinking was right I had to get out there now. I had to warn them about Shane before it was too late.

"Kat you can't!" Maggie cried, standing up quickly.

I made a beeline for the door. "I have to stop him!"

"What? Stop who? Kat!" Andrea called frantically.

But she was too late. I was already out the door and running through the fields screaming Daryl's name. When I broke through the tree line I stopped and looked around, trying to decide which way to go to look for them. I bent down and studied the ground for footprints. If I had learned one thing from Daryl it was how to track. Obviously I was nowhere near as good as him, but anyone can look for footprints. It was a few minutes before I found four sets of prints. Three were around the same size, and one was a bit smaller. I took that to be Glenn's. The footprints split into two different directions, Glenn and someone else going one way and the other two going another.

Shit.

I guessed Glenn was with Daryl, which meant Rick was alone with Shane. Fuck me! I had to make a quick decision: find Glenn and Daryl and tell them what was going on, or directly go to try and stop Shane. Deciding I couldn't handle Shane by myself I started to follow the direction of Daryl and Glenn's footsteps, trying to stay as quiet as possible.

I was walking further into the trees when I found another set of footprints. Daryl and Glenn's were still there, and these ones looked less fresh. I did a quick sweep of the area, my eyes landing on a tree that had blood smeared on it. This must've been where Shane got his injury. This furthered my belief that Shane was up to something, because he said Randall hit him yet his blood somehow got on a tree.

"Kat, watch out!"

I whirled around just in time to have a walker lunge at me. I shrieked and fell backwards, the walker landing on top of me. I pushed my hands against its chest in a vain attempt to get it off me. I had dropped my gun when I fell and I had no idea where it went. There was no way I could try to reach one of my weapons and hold it off at the same time. Its jaw snapped at me hungrily and that's when I noticed it was Randall. What the fuck?

Suddenly his weight was lifted off of me, and I was roughly pulled off the ground. "Are you alright?" It was Daryl. His voice was laced with concern and his eyes were sweeping me over anxiously. "Did he get you?" I was panting heavily and slightly shaking. I shook my head at him and looked back at walker Randall, who now had Glenn's knife sticking out of his head. Daryl nodded, satisfied with my answer, and walked over to Glenn and tapped him on the chest. "Nice."

I spotted my gun on the ground and went to retrieve it before heading back over to where Daryl and Glenn were now crouched down examining Randall's dead body. Daryl grasped the boy's chin in his fingers and turned it left and right. "Got his neck broke," he commented. He flipped the body over with a grunt, lifting his shirt and pant leg. He sat back, puzzled. "He's got no bites."

"Yeah, none you can see," Glenn said, inching up.

I moved closer so I could get a good look at Randall like Daryl had. "He's right; it doesn't look like he had any run-ins with a walker. I think he would have a lot more damage done to him. Plus if he had, wouldn't that walker still be around here?"

"I'm telling you, he died from this," Daryl stated, motioning to Randall's neck, which I noticed was sticking out at odd angles.

"But…how is that possible?" Glenn asked, glancing at us. Neither of us had an answer.

Daryl got up and started to walk off when a gunshot rang out. I gasped and stood up quickly. "Shit!" I cursed. How the hell could I have forgotten? "Guys, we have to find Rick, I think Shane's gonna try and kill him!"

Glenn and Daryl shared a look. "What?" Daryl asked, squinting at me. "That why you came out here?"

"Yes," I answered breathlessly, nodding quickly. "I just- I mean…I don't know! I just know! I have a really bad feeling." They glanced at each other again and I huffed. "I'm not crazy! You've seen how he's been acting; he's a psycho!"

"Let's just go back to the house for now," Daryl said. "If neither of them are back we'll go out looking." That seemed to be the end of the conversation, because he continued on his way back to the farm. Glenn sent me a shrug before he went after Daryl.

I had no choice but to follow.

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><p><strong>Bow chicka wow woowww! Yeah that was kind of a shitty sex scene but it was their first time so I wanted it to be like...special or whatever. And YES I made Daryl a virgin because I really feel like he would be. Maybe it's just me but I don't see him being social enough to just have sex with random chicks.<strong>

**I think that's all I have to say for now so THANK YOU AND PLEASE REVIEW!**


	14. Chapter 14

**AH. I am so sorry guys! I don't even have an excuse this time, except for the fact that I suck. So this is the last chapter following the season, and then I'm gonna follow the comics slightly, but I do have my own ideas (some of which happened in the comics before I even read them). Kind of excited. And thank you to those who reviewed! Do it again!**

**ENJOY!**

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><p>"Rick and Shane ain't back?" Daryl asked when we got back to the house. "We heard a shot."<p>

"Maybe they got Randall," Carol offered.

"Randall's dead," I told her. "He was a walker."

"Did you get the walker that bit him?" Hershel asked slowly.

"Weird thing is…he wasn't bit," Glenn said hesitantly.

"His neck was broke," Daryl added. "Thing is, Randall and Shane's footsteps were right on top of each other. And Shane ain't no tracker, so he didn't come up behind him. They were together."

Lori walked up to him quickly, her hands together as if she was praying. "Would you please get back out there and find out what the hell's going on?"

"You got it." Daryl left the house and I followed, Glenn and Andrea behind me. We all slowed to a stop when we got onto the porch.

"Oh my god…" Andrea whispered.

What looked like an army of walkers was heading towards us. The rest of the group had come up behind us and Hershel instructed Patricia to kill the lights while Maggie went to get the guns. "Do you think we can just stay quiet in the house and they'll pass by like on the highway?" Glenn asked nervously.

Daryl shot him a look before turning back to the hoard. "Unless there's some tunnel I don't know about a herd that size'll rip the house down." He seemed to be way too calm about this. Shit, I was about to have a panic attack.

Lori came outside looking like she was about to shit herself. "Carl's gone. He was supposed to be upstairs but he's not!" I had to refrain from rolling my eyes. Couldn't she ever keep an eye on her fucking kid? "I'm not leaving without my boy!" she cried.

Carol was about to go help her when I stopped her. "Carol, I'm gonna need you to drive my car while I shoot. Patricia and Beth will help Lori."

"What about me?" Sophia piped up tearfully, clutching her doll. I hadn't even noticed her come outside.

I bent down and put my hands on her shoulders. "You'll be in the back of my car, nice and safe, ok? We're not gonna leave you." She nodded, a few tears spilling down her cheeks. Carol hugged her to her chest and gave me a nod.

Maggie came back with the gun bag and started passing them out to everyone. She went to hand me a shotgun but I declined and she looked at me curiously. "Ain't got that snowplow for nothing." I grinned. Truthfully, the only guns I knew how to use were my handguns but I didn't want to release that information just yet. Instead I just took some extra ammo.

"I got the numbers," Daryl said, still staring out at the approaching hoard. "There's no use."

Hershel loaded his weapon. "You can go if you want."

"You gonna take them all on?"

"We have guns, we have cars," he answered, cocking his shotgun like a badass old man.

"We'll shoot as many as we can, then lead the rest away from the farm in the cars," Andrea added.

"You serious?" Daryl asked in disbelief.

"This is my farm. I'll die here." Damn, I had to respect Hershel for that. At first I wasn't sure about him but he had really turned around after we slaughtered the walkers in his barn.

"Alright, it's as good a night as any," Daryl said, hopping over the railing over the porch.

Everyone started for the cars and I quickly caught up to Daryl when he was getting on his bike. I didn't care if anyone saw; I grabbed his face and gave him a brief but deep kiss. "Be careful," I told him, running back over to where Carol was getting into my car. Glenn and Maggie took Shane's car, T-Dog and Andrea went in the truck and Jimmy was in the RV.

I hopped into the passenger's seat and Carol started the engine. I rolled down the window and positioned myself so I was slightly hanging out of the window. Daryl and Jimmy broke off toward the barn, which I now noticed was somehow in flames, and the rest of us continued on the road around the house. I tried to keep a steady aim and hit as many of them in the head as I could, but it was a little difficult with the car bumping all over the place.

We circled back around and I kept shooting but it didn't seem to be doing much. I was already out of ammo in one gun and on to the next. Some of the walkers had broken through the wired fence, and I saw T-Dog trying to run them down. I stopped shooting for a second so I could look at Carol. "Like I said, ain't got that snowplow for nothing."

She glanced at me and nodded, her eyes fearful. Sophia was still crying softly in the back. I took down whatever walkers I could, but I stopped at rolled up my window when we were getting close. Carol had an iron grip on the steering wheel as we grew closer. I told Sophia to buckle up and double checked that the doors were locked.

We hit the first walker and it went down easily under the force of the snowplow. There was a group of three next and the same thing happened. A broad grin came over my face and I couldn't help but start cheering. Even Carol started laughing a bit and grew more confident, driving around and taking down groups of walkers at a time. It was like some kind of fucked up video game.

Carol continued driving in the fields until I saw Maggie and Glenn speeding away, and I noticed T-Dog was nowhere to be found. "Shit," I cursed, running a hand through my hair. "We gotta go, there's too many of them."

"What about the others?" Sophia asked tearfully.

I sighed. "It's not use, they all left. We gotta follow them. We should head for the highway, that's probably where everyone is going."

Carol nodded at me and turned onto the road leading away from the barn. I saw something up ahead and sighed in relief when I saw it was Daryl sitting on his motorcycle. I ignored the fact that he was creepily watching the barn burn down. We slowed down and pulled up next to him and I rolled down my window. "Come on, everyone left. We'll head back to the highway where we first broke down. You take the lead." He nodded and started his bike, zooming down the path with us following, Carol taking down any walkers that stumbled into the path after Daryl.

We were driving for maybe a half hour before I saw another car up ahead. I squinted, taking in the green color of Shane's car. Daryl must've noticed too, because he sped up slightly to catch up to them. When we were close enough I reached over and honked the horn once, causing them to stop.

Maggie and Glenn stepped out of the car and I couldn't help but smile as I went out to greet them. "Never thought I'd be so happy to see you guys again," I said, giving them both quick hugs.

"Did you see anyone else?" Maggie asked, her eyes moving to each of us.

"I saw T-Dog drive off but I don't know who was with him. We're heading back to the highway, see if anyone's there."

"That's what we we're doing," Glenn added. "Shouldn't take too long to get there. Let's keep moving."

Everyone went back to their respective vehicles, but I hopped on Daryl's motorcycle. He glanced back at me and I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, grinning when he blushed and mumbled something under his breath. I turned back to Carol and gave her a thumbs up, and she sent me a small smile in return. Daryl started the motorcycle and it roared to life, and he passed Glenn to take the lead.

By the time we made it back to the highway it was morning, and somewhere along the line T-Dog had pulled up behind us. We carefully weaved through the abandoned cars, coming to a stop where we left the supplies for Sophia. Rick, Carl, and Hershel were all there, smiles on their faces when they saw us pull up.

Rick gave Daryl the "bro-tap", which made me giggle, before he went to greet his wife and son. Maggie and Beth ran to Hershel and they all clutched each other tightly. Daryl swung a leg over the motorcycle, standing up and offering me a hand to help me up with him.

"Where'd you find everyone?" Rick asked Daryl.

He pointed at Glenn. "This guy's tail lights zig-zagging all over the road, figured he had to be Asian driving like that."

"Good one," Glenn said, chuckling along with the rest of us.

"Where's the rest of us?" Daryl asked, placing his hands on his hips.

"We're the only ones who made it so far," Rick answered.

"Shane?" Lori asked, to which Rick only shook his head. Me and Daryl shared a look.

"Andrea?"

"We saw her go down," T-Dog threw in.

"Patricia?" Hershel asked.

Beth looked at him tearfully. "They got her, too. She was holding on to me daddy, she just…" She let out a sob before she spoke again. "What about Jimmy?"

"He was in the RV," Rick answered, looking at her sadly. "It got overrun." Beth started sobbing into Hershel's chest again.

"You definitely saw Andrea?" Carol asked.

"I'm gonna go back," Daryl said quickly, going to get back on his motorcycle.

"No," Rick interrupted.

"We can't just leave her."

"She either is there or she isn't. She's somewhere else, or she's dead. There's no way to find her. We gotta keep moving."

"I say head east," T-Dog spoke up. "To the coast."

I laughed loudly and he shot me a look. "Trust me, if there's one thing worse than zombies it's New England weather. Soon as winter hits you're not gonna wanna be anywhere _near_ the east coast."

A lone walker appeared on the highway and Daryl grabbed his crossbow. "Stay off the main roads, the bigger the road the more assholes like this one. I got him." He aimed at the walker and pulled the trigger, and arrow flying out and impaling it in the head. He retrieved it and came back over to us.

"Alright, let's get going," Rick commanded. "T-Dog, you come with me, Lori, and Carl. Hershel and Beth you ride with Glenn and Maggie."

I took this as my queue to get back on the motorcycle, Daryl doing the same. I gave Carol a nod, letting her know it was ok for her and Sophia to take my car. I wrapped my arms around Daryl as we set off again, not having any idea where we were going.

Our journey this time was longer, at least two hours went by before I heard a short honk behind us. Daryl pulled over and everyone followed suit, getting out of their cars and heading up to the front.

"Been running on fumes for the past hour," Rick stated. "We'll have to make a run for some gas in the morning."

"Spend the night here?" Carol asked, looking around fearfully and hugging Sophia to her.

"Glenn and I can make a run now, try to scrounge up some gas," Maggie said.

"No one goes anywhere. God forbid people get stranded without a car."

"Rick, we're stranded now," Glenn said, his voice sounding tired.

Rick looked like he was slowly loosing it. Like he was finally feeling all the pressure that was put on him. "I know it looks bad, we've all been through hell but at least we found each other." He stopped to take off his jacket and give it to a shivering Carl before he continued, shaking his head. "I was sure I really wasn't, but we did. We keep it that way. We'll find shelter there's gotta be a place." He said the last part forcefully, as if he was trying to convince himself more than the rest of us.

"Rick look around. There's walkers everywhere they're migrating or something…"

"There's gotta be a place! Not just where we hole up, somewhere we can fortify. Build a _life_ for each other! I know it's out there we just have to find it!" Rick seemed frantic now, pacing in circles before he stopped and pointed to what looked like a rundown dam. "We'll set up camp there for tonight."

"Does this feel right to you?" Carol asked Daryl, her arms crossed. I raised an eyebrow at her. What was she asking him for?

"What if walkers come through or another group like Randall's?" Beth asked quickly.

"You know I found Randall, right?" Daryl told Rick, stepping up to look him in the eye. "He was a walker, but he wasn't bit."

"Rick what the hell happened?" Lori asked her husband.

"Shane killed Randall," I said. "Just like he always wanted to."

"And then the herd got him?"

Everyone stared at Rick, waiting for him to say something. He stared at the ground, seeming to be thinking hard about something. "We're all infected," he answered finally. My eyes widened in shock, as I'm sure everyone else's did too.

"Um, _what_?" I asked. How the fuck was that possible? And how did he know?

"At the CDC, Jenner told me. Whatever it is we all carry it." Glenn had told me the basics of their trip to the CDC, how they met Dr. Jenner, how he wanted to keep them all there while the building self-destructed. But I never knew about this, because apparently neither did he.

Carol walked forward and looked at him in disbelief, her arms crossed. "And you never said anything?"

"It wouldn't have made a difference," he answered, staring hard at everyone. "I thought it best if people didn't know." With that he walked away from us, standing near the dam structure. Lori followed after him.

Everyone started talking at once. "You alright with this?" Daryl asked me.

"Yes," I responded loudly, so everyone would hear me. They turned their attention to me. "It doesn't matter when he told us. It doesn't matter if he told you back at the CDC, at the farm, right now, or even in a month from now. _It doesn't matter_. You know why? Because it's not like once he told us it was gonna magically go away. We're _all_ still infected and there's nothing we can do about it." I finished my little speech and placed my hands on my hips, waiting for someone to say something. No one did. "All I wanna know is what the fuck this virus _is_. It has to be air-born, right? I mean, that's the only explanation as to how all of us somehow have it." Still no one answered.

Daryl nodded shortly. "That sounds about right," he said, breaking the silence. "Come on, let's go get some firewood, set up a camp over there."

I followed him into the woods while the rest of the group went to the dam to set up…whatever. We didn't go too far in, just in case we ran into any more walkers. After what just happened that was the last thing we wanted. We started collecting firewood, Daryl taking bigger logs and me taking some smaller sticks and twigs. We went about in silence for a while until he spoke. "You were right," he said, startling me and making me drop a few sticks.

"Right about what?" I grumbled, bending down to gather my fallen firewood. I glared at him when he smirked, obviously finding it amusing that he scared me.

"What Rick said. I mean, yeah I'm a little pissed he didn't tell us but it really don't matter. Like you said, we're all still infected." He picked another log off the ground and tucked it under his arm, nodding back toward the dam as a signal we should head back. "I think you're right about it being air-born, too. Ain't no other explanation I can think of."

I nodded and sighed heavily. "It sucks though. It'll never end. Even if we live to be old and wrinkly and civilization starts up again, once we die we'll become walkers and this whole shitstorm will start all over again."

"Maybe they'll find a cure by then."

"Maybe," I mumbled, seeing the group come into view. "If there's even any scientists left."

When nighttime came around everyone was sitting idly around the fire, not saying anything. The tension in the air was making me feel incredibly awkward. T-Dog was keeping watch on top of one of the brick walls. Daryl was poking the fire with a stick and Carol kept shooting glances from Rick to him.

"We're not safe with him," she said, and I rolled my eyes. Here we go. "Keeping something like that from us. Why do you need him he's just gonna pull you down."

Daryl looked at her boredly, and continued to poke the fire. "Nah, Rick's done alright by me." I smirked slightly at his statement.

"You're his henchman, and I'm a burden," Carol continued. "You deserve better."

Daryl squinted at her as if trying to figure out what the fuck she was saying. "What do you want?"

"A man of honor."

I rested my chin in my hand and looked at her. "And what do you plan on doing, huh? You guys gonna ride off into the sunset together or some shit?" Daryl shot me a look but I kept going. "None of us would make it on our own. I was on my own for a month and it _sucked_. One time I was looting a store and a dozen walkers came outta damn nowhere like they always do. I had to crawl into a vent to get away. And this vent was tiny; like, I could barely fit in it. If that was any of you you'd be dead." No one would meet my eyes, proving that they knew what I said was right. If the group broke up nobody would last. Except maybe Daryl because he could hunt.

A branch snapped somewhere in the woods and everyone immediately jumped up and clutched their weapons. "What was that?" Beth asked fearfully.

"Could be anything," Daryl said. "A possum, a raccoon—"

"A walker," Glenn added.

"We need to leave!" Carol cried, holding Sophia close. "What are we waiting for?"

"Last thing we need is for everyone to be running off in the dark," Rick snapped.

"I'm not sitting here waiting for another herd to blow through. We need to move," Maggie said.

"No one is going anywhere! I've been keeping this group together, alive. I've been doing that all along. I didn't ask for this!" Rick was furious now, his eyes blazing as he looked at all of us. "I killed my best friend for you people for Christ's sake!"

If my eyes got any wider I'm sure they would've fallen out of my head. What the _fuck_? How and when did this happen? I shared a look with Daryl and he put a hand on the small of my back, moving the slightest bit closer to me as Rick continued ranting.

"You saw what he was like. How he pushed me. How he compromised us. He staged the whole Randall thing, led me out to put a bullet in my back." At his words I nudged Daryl lightly. I had been right. "He was my friend, but he came after me. My hands are _clean_!"

Everyone shuffled around and glanced at each other, not knowing what to do or say. Carl buried his face in his Lori's chest sobbing. Sophia stared at the ground biting her lip. I could tell everyone was still trying to decide whether to leave or not, especially after this.

"Maybe you people are better off without me. I say there's a place for us but maybe it's just another pipe dream. Maybe I'm fooling myself again. Why don't you go find out _yourself_, send me a postcard! You think you can do better, let's see how far you get." Rick was speaking angrily, trying to stay in control. What I didn't know is if he was trying to stay in control of us or himself. "No takers? Fine. You're staying. This isn't a democracy anymore." Lori looked at him like he was a monster. He stared at all of us pointedly before walking away.

I exhaled through my nose and pinched the bridge of it. The rest of the group sat down slowly, trying to process what the fuck just happened. I patted Daryl's arm before I went after Rick. He was sitting on the hood of Hershel's car, staring into the darkness. I hopped up onto the car and stared with him.

"You here to tell me I'm a horrible person?"

"Nope," I said flatly. "I'm here to tell you I think what you did was completely necessary." He turned to look at me and I looked back, shifting slightly to see him better. "I knew what Shane was gonna do that night. I went out looking for you. I went to tell Daryl and Glenn and that's when we found Randall."

"How did you know?"

I shrugged. "Just figured it out I guess. We all saw how he was; I guess I'm the only one who really admitted that he was that bad. I saw the looks he gave you. I knew there was no way Randall could've gotten out of those cuffs. Plus, Shane was way bigger than him, he could've easily taken him down."

Rick nodded his head and smiled a bit. "You know, Daryl said the same thing. Seems like you two are a lot alike."

I put my hands on my hips and looked at him in fake shock. "What are you insinuating Mr. Grimes?"

He put his hands up in mock surrender and chuckled. "Absolutely nothing."

I grinned at him and gave his shoulder a pat before I hopped off the car. "Just remember what I said. It was necessary. Don't let it eat you, or you'll become just like him."

He nodded. "Thank you, Kat."

I gave him one last smile before I turned and made my way back to the group. When I got there everyone was still sitting around the fire silently. "Are we all sleeping in the cars tonight?" I asked. Lori nodded. "Well, Sophia can sleep in the back of my car with me, Carl, Lori, and Carol you can take the seats, and there's still one left if anyone wants it."

Sophia said she was tired, so she climbed into my car arranged herself under the blankets. I got in after her and shut the back. When I laid down she immediately moved closer to me, resting her head on my shoulder. "Are you afraid of Rick?" she asked softly.

I rubbed her back lightly. "Of course not. And you shouldn't be either. He's going through a lot right now."

She yawned tiredly. "Ok…Kat?"

"Yeah?"

"Will you be my big sister?"

I froze at her words, my mind going to Rebecca. I fought back the tears that were building up and rubbed my cheek against her hair. "Of course I will." Sophia snuggled closer to me and fell asleep soon after, with me following.

I woke up with the sensation that my bladder was about to burst. I looked up and Saw Carol in one of the back seats, and Lori and Carl in the front. Thankfully Sophia had rolled away from me in her sleep, and I opened and closed the back as quietly as I could, grabbing toilet paper as I went. Daryl was now perched on top of the brick wall on watch. I ran over to the side of the wall facing the woods, directly below him, and started to do my business.

"The hell are you doing?" I heard him ask from above.

"I'm peeing, the fuck's it look like?"

"You gotta do it right _there_?"

"Number one it's nothing you haven't seen before and number two just don't look then. I'm not going into the woods alone."

I quickly finished up and dropped the toilet paper onto one of the logs around the fire. I jumped up to grab the edge of the wall and hoisted myself up next to Daryl. He glanced at me and shook his head. I rolled my eyes and gestured to the pond in front of us. "You think it's safe to wash up in there?"

He shrugged. "Guess so." He put the binoculars up to his eyes and looked around. Suddenly his body froze.

"What is it?" I asked frantically. "Please tell me it's not another herd."

Without a word he handed the binoculars to me, pointing in the direction I should look. I held them up to my eyes and peered through, fearing what I would see. It took me a second to find it, but when I did my breath hitched in my throat. It was a large building, looming ominously in the distance.

"Holy shit," I breathed. "Is that…a _prison_?"

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><p><strong>DUN DUN DUNNNN! Sadly though this will probably mean it's gonna take me longer to update, because I have to get my ideas all out there and whatnot. And chapters will probably be shorter too. Womp.<strong>

**Well I hope you liked it and PLEASE REVIEW!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Again, I'm sorry guys! This chapter is shorter and nothing really happens but I like to update at least once a week and it's been more than a week! And it might take more for a new chapter because I literally have like 2 exams and a long ass paper due all on the same day next week. WTF! I hate college.**

**Thank you to the people who reviewed and please do it again!**

**ENJOY!**

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><p>"Alright, everyone stay together, just like always. We don't know who or what could be inside there." Me and Daryl had told Rick about the prison as soon as he woke up, and naturally it was now our new destination. I couldn't lie, it did look pretty promising. "There must be a turn off somewhere. When Maggie and Glenn come back from their run we'll leave right away."<p>

The rest of us stood idly by, not really sure of what to do. Tensions were still running high from last night. Shit, Lori wouldn't go anywhere near Rick, and wouldn't let Carl near him either. They were both sitting on the logs from last night with Carol and Sophia, looking extremely tired and wary. The same could be said for everyone else. Just because I was on Rick's side doesn't mean anyone else was.

Glenn and Maggie came back with almost two full tanks of gas that was split between us, Rick getting slightly more because he was basically out. They also said they found the turn leading to the prison about two miles up.

Lori approached me before we were about to leave. "Uh, Kat, would it be ok if me and Carl rode in your car? I mean, you're riding with Daryl right? I think it'd be nice to let Carl ride with Sophia."

I had to refrain from rolling my eyes at that. Obviously I knew the real reason was that she didn't want to ride with Rick. Bitch. "Sure. But honestly Lori you don't have to lie to me. And for the record, I completely agree with what Rick did, and you shouldn't be treating him like some sort of monster."

She looked at me stunned but I walked away before she had a chance to say anything. I made my way to Daryl who was already on his motorcycle waiting for me. I plopped down behind him and grinned. "Hey stud. Gimme a kiss." I puckered my lips at him goofily and he grumbled something I couldn't make out. He glanced around before placing a brief kiss on my lips.

"Happy?" he muttered.

"Not really. That was a lame kiss, but whatever. Let's go to prison!" He rolled his eyes and shook his head, starting up the bike and taking off down the road, the rest of the group following.

The prison was fucking huge. It looked more like a mansion than anything. It was surrounded by three chain-link fences, one on the outside, one in the middle, and one closer to the prison. There was barbed wire around the top of each one. They were all left wide open, inviting anyone to come in. I didn't know if that was good or bad.

We pulled our cars up past the first and second gates, stopping just before the third. There were walkers ambling about near the entrance. Maybe a dozen or so. "Place needs some cleaning up," I commented.

Rick opened the back of Hershel's car and brought out a sledgehammer and an ax, handing the hammer to T-Dog. "Right," he said, walking over and tugging on the gate. "Daryl, Kat, T-Dog, and I will take care of that. Glenn, Hershel, and Maggie why don't you walk the perimeter and make sure the area in between the fences is clear. Carol, Beth, Lori keep the kids in the car and keep watch. Let's get this gate closed."

Everyone helped pull the gate shut, the four of us inside. It was actually easy with all of us pulling, but I can't imagine what it would be like with only a few people. We left it a small crack just in case any of us needed to get out in a hurry. "Looks like they're spaced out enough that we can take them down easily," Daryl said, getting his crossbow ready. I handed him one of my guns, knowing he only had a few arrows.

"Well, let's get this over with," T-Dog sighed, going over to the first walker and smashing in its head.

We followed suit and I pulled out my swords. I sliced through the head of the walker closest to me, waiting for the one behind it to get a bit closer before I dispatched of that one too. The smell was fucking unbelievable. Most of the walkers were so decayed it was hard to even tell what gender they were. Sometimes I wondered who they were before all this, what they were like. It was hard not to with there being so damn many of them. I didn't dwell on it though, and kept slicing and dicing. That's the beauty of these curved swords: perfect for taking heads off.

It didn't take as long as I thought it would, and before I knew it we had killed them all. My swords were dripping with gooey disgusting blood and I shook them slightly to try and make it stop. "Damn, we killed a lot of these bastards," I panted. One good thing about the zombie apocalypse: killing them was amazing exercise.

Suddenly there was a low rumbling noise in my ears. I shot Daryl a confused look and he returned it. "The fuck is that?"

"I think it's coming from inside…"

The four of us turned to stare at the open doors of the prison and my eyes widened. A hoard of walkers was coming at us. Well, fuck me. Rick and T-Dog pulled out their guns and I did the same. "Head-shots only!" Rick yelled. "We have to make these bullets count! Kat, go and get some more ammo from Hershel's car!"

I took off quickly and heard them start shooting behind me. I squeezed myself through the opening in the fence and Lori was already getting out of my car to meet me, a look of worry on her face. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"I need more ammo now!"

She quickly flung open the back of Hershel's car, handing me as much ammo as I could carry. I thanked her and made my way back where the guys were still busily shooting. It didn't look like they were making much progress. Daryl grabbed an extra clip and slid it into my gun that he was still using. I put the rest of it on the ground so anyone could grab it if they needed and started shooting.

I was trying to keep a level head, but I was starting to panic a little. "There's too many of them!" I shouted.

"Just keep shooting," Rick said. "We can always run away if necessary."

After a few more minutes of relentless shooting the walkers stopped flooding the doorway. I let out a very deep sigh of relief and lowered my arm which was now numb from holding it up for so long.

"You think that's all of them?" T-Dog asked.

"Only one way to find out," Rick answered, pointing his gun in the air and shooting with a loud BANG. We trained our weapons once more at the door, waiting. When no more walkers appeared we lowered them.

Maggie, Glenn, and Hershel appeared back at the fence and we set off with moving and burning the bodies. The pile in front of the door was absolutely huge and I had a feeling this would be taking a while. Maggie and I took to moving some of the smaller bodies because we weren't big strong men.

We worked until nightfall and decided to hold off on the rest until tomorrow. We had cleared out most of the doorway and could easily move around the rest. We set up camp in between the fences and set up a fire. It was getting colder out and I didn't like it. I mean, it was nowhere near as bad as Boston could get, but I would much rather be hot than cold. Plus, the hot weather would help make the walkers rot faster. I don't know how the cold would affect them but in basic biology the cold is used to preserve dead bodies. But since they were technically "undead" would it make a difference?

I was so lost in my thoughts I didn't even notice everyone getting ready to turn in for the night until Daryl rested a hand on my shoulder. I jumped slightly and a small grin appeared on his lips. "You going to sleep?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess. You keeping watch? Do you want like an extra blanket or something? It's cold out."

"Nah, I'm good. Just get some rest, we still gotta check the inside tomorrow."

I nodded and hoisted myself to my feet, giving him a quick peck on the cheek before heading to my car. I hopped in the back where Sophia was already sleeping and settled down for another night.

When day broke Rick immediately set about making plans for the day like he usually did. "I know everyone is hungry and anxious to get inside this place to see just how livable it really is. Daryl and I are going in. We're going to sweep as large an area as we can and make sure it's clear and closed off from the rest of the prison." He turned his attention to me, Maggie, Glenn, and Hershel. "I want you guys on burning duty. Try to clean as best as you can. T-Dog, be at the gate with the rifle. I want them to be clear at all times. Beth, Lori, and Carol you're on babysitting duty again."

Before everyone went about their tasks I stepped up. "I'm going in with you guys."

Rick glanced at Daryl and back at me. "Kat, I don't think—"

I held up a hand to stop him. "As much as I would love to be burning dead bodies I think I'd be a lot better at covering our asses if need be. My guns have silencers and I also have swords, which if you didn't notice yesterday are extremely amazing at slicing up walkers."

Rick placed his hands on his hips and nodded. "Well, I can't argue with that."

"Where'd you learn to use those things anyway?" Daryl asked, motioning to the swords.

I shrugged. "Lord of the Rings and Legend of Zelda." Glenn grinned and I smirked back. It was nice to have a fellow nerd around.

Daryl, Rick, and I left the other and headed into the prison. When we walked through the doors there was a large open hallway with an archway that led to the cells. There were windows along the top of the walls which actually made it pretty bright.

"Damn, this is pretty nice," I said.

"Yeah, but don't get too cozy," Daryl remarked. "It's more than likely still got a few of the old tenants left."

As soon as he said that we turned a corner and were met with the moan of a walker sitting on the floor. Rick jumped back slightly startled at the sight of it. It looked like a fat male, its stomach torn open and intestines hanging out everywhere. Daryl quickly disposed of it with his crossbow and retrieved the bolt.

We came to a set of double doors, the word CAFETERIA stamped above them. Someone had shoved a baton between the handles, trapping whoever, or whatever, was inside. "What do you think's behind door number one?" I asked.

Rick started to slowly remove the baton. "Looking at past experiences it's probably a room full of walkers. I say we open fire and start backing up as soon as I open the doors. Got it?" Daryl and I nodded and I got out both my guns, because Daryl had his own this time. Rick took the baton out all the way and gave us a final look. "GO!"

He ripped the doors open and we all trained our guns on the inside of the room, but faltered when we saw what was actually in there. Four men were sitting at one of the tables, all staring at us nonchalantly.

"Hey. You guys want some meatloaf?"

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><p><strong>Aw shit, who is it? Well if you guys read the comics you know. I am following them a bit but I have my own ideas to throw in there and shit is gonna go DOWN! Ummm I think that's all I have to say for now.<strong>

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	16. Chapter 16

**I AM SO SORRY GUYS. Seriously school and work have been kicking my ass.**

**Thank you to those of you who reviewed as always! Can I just say something about other stories? Am I the only one who feels like they're all the same? Like, the girl is either some extreme survivalist (who hunts and uses a bow) or the exact opposite of Daryl who he feels the need to protect for some reason and they immediately fall in love somehow. I'm not bashing these stories, because I do read some of them, but I just feel like there's a pattern here and it's just not very realistic. How many of you guys know anything about hunting? I sure as hell don't. And a lot of them have ridiculous amounts of reviews! That's why it means so much when you guys review and tell me how much you love the story and Kat! Yes, she's a badass, but she doesn't know shit about basic survival. I don't know, maybe it's just me.**

**Anyway! Sorry this is another short and shitty chapter but obviously I really needed to get something up. I promise you action is coming in the next chapter!**

**ENJOY AND REVIEW!**

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><p>The group sat around a large prison table, everyone munching happily on hot meatloaf and veggies. I fucking hated meatloaf, but right now this was the best shit I'd eaten in a <em>long<em> time. The prison's large ovens were gas operated so they still worked, which was like a fucking godsend in this chaos.

As far as the men that were here go, we found out they were inmates that got locked in when the guards abandoned the place. This little tidbit of information of course made Lori freak the fuck out, but in all honestly they didn't seem too bad. There was Axel, who looked like Santa Claus gone wrong, who was in for armed robbery. Dexter, the one who offered the meatloaf, was a big black man with a skull tattoo on his head. He had apparently killed his wife and her lover, which obviously was a little unsettling, but he assured us we had nothing to worry about. Then there was Andrew, who was in for drug possession and also seemed to be a little out of his mind. He was convinced the zombie apocalypse happened because he asked god to help him get off drugs. Yeah, ok. The last man was Thomas, who claimed he was in for tax fraud, but it "wasn't his fault". I trusted him the least. He looked the most normal, which means he was probably the most fucked up.

However, as Rick pointed out, they were here first so we couldn't just kick them out. Plus, they were nice enough to share their food with us. After that they helped us burn the rest of the bodies so we could start moving our stuff into the prison. Well, what little stuff we had. I shared a cell with Daryl, for obvious reasons. So far this place didn't seem so bad.

The next morning we were all seated back in the cafeteria, this time eating oatmeal and stale cereal. The prison was "stocked out the ass" with food, as Dexter put it, but a good amount of it had gone bad. Still, we had enough to probably last all throughout winter, which was good enough.

Suddenly there was a clattering sound from the kitchen. Everyone was immediately on alert, weapons at the ready. A few tense seconds passed by before we heard a soft sound.

"Meow."

My face instantly perked up at the sight of the orange cat that stepped out of the shadows. "Hi, kitty!" I squealed, and everyone turned to stare at me. I put a bit of oatmeal on my finger and knelt down to try and beckon the cat forward. It walked up and sniffed my fingers tentatively before licking the oatmeal off. I let him sniff my other hand before I started to pat him. He flinched slightly but relaxed and arched into my hand when I scratched behind his ears. "Aw, he's a good boy," I cooed.

"What are you, the fucking cat whisperer?"

I shot a look at Daryl and continued to pat my new friend who was now rubbing against my legs. I put my hands on his stomach and lifted him a bit, and when he didn't do anything I picked him up all the way and brought him with me back to the table to sit in my lap. "So I'm a cat lady, sue me." The cat, who was now purring, was sniffing around the table in search of food. Carl volunteered to get him some leftover meatloaf and water and hurried off to do so. "I shall name him Simba," I declared.

"How do you know it's a boy?" Glenn asked curiously.

"The majority of orange cats are male," I answered. "Something about the X chromosome. Oh, and then there's this…" I lifted up Simba's tail to reveal two fuzzy cat balls.

Glenn choked on his food and looked down awkwardly. "Oh…"

I smirked and Carl came back with a bowl of water and a bowl of meatloaf that he had cut into small pieces. He set them on the floor and Simba jumped off my lap and began to chow down. I smiled at the new member of our group before I went back to eating my own food.

Later on we got back to unpacking, the inmates helping out. I noticed Thomas speaking with Carol, both of them laughing lightly at something. I narrowed my eyes at the pair. I didn't like Thomas. Something about him just seemed off to me. Tax fraud that wasn't his fault? I seriously doubt that. The dude looked like a typical creepy in the closet pervert. I'd have to keep an eye on him.

My thoughts were broken by the distinct rumbling that could only mean one thing: a car.

And not just any car. Herschel's blue truck that we had left on the highway was making its way toward the fences of the prison. A smile broke out onto my face. "It must be Andrea!"

"I wouldn't be too sure," Daryl said, squinting at the approaching vehicle. "There's people in the bed of the truck."

I raised a hand to my forehead, shielding the sun from my eyes so I could get a better look. He was right. I couldn't see much of them because the rest of the truck was in the way, but it looked like two people were sitting in the bed with their backs against the cab.

Everyone had their weapons drawn as the truck slowed to a stop at the first fence. We waited on bated breath for something to happen.

"Is that any way to welcome me back?" A voice we all knew too well called. Andrea stuck her head out the window with a grin and waved to us. I could make out another figure in the passenger seat but couldn't tell what they looked like.

Rick, Daryl, and T-Dog rushed forward to open the gates for her to drive through. When the truck passed by them I noticed a look of horror cross their faces. Andrea pulled up to the rest of us and I saw why. In the bed of the truck sat two walkers. Their arms and jaws were cut off and they had chains around their necks. They were both male and had no shirts on, their bodies were emaciated and grey and some of their organs were hanging out. I knew those walkers.

Before I could say anything Rick stormed up to Andrea as she got out of the car. "What the hell is this?" he hissed. Lori and Carol clutched their children who looked on in fear with everyone else at the walkers, even though they were making absolutely no attempts to attack us. Not like they could anyway.

"Look, guys, it's not what it seems, just…" she was trying in vain to explain herself, motioning wildly to the truck, where the mystery passenger was now getting out.

I couldn't help the grin that shone on my face. "Michonne!"

"Kat?"

I rushed forward to give the stunned woman a hug, which she returned after a second. "Fucking hell am I glad to see you, you crazy bitch!"

Michonne raised an eyebrow at me. "I could say the same to you. What the hell happened—"

"Hang on," Rick interrupted, placing his hands on his hips. "You two…know each other?"

"Hell yeah! Michonne here saved my ass when I was first left on my own. We stuck together until we got attacked and separated." I turned back to Michonne and nodded at her two "pets" as I called them. "See you still got your cronies with you."

She glanced them, grabbing their chains and tugging slightly to make them exit the bed of the truck. "Yeah. It's strange, but it's like they've become…loyal to me. But I suspect I won't be able to keep them if I wanna stay with you guys." She said this directly to Rick, making a statement but also asking a question.

"You're right," he nodded. "It seems like we can trust you for now. You saved Kat, and apparently Andrea too. But no way are they coming in."

"I don't need them anymore," she said, turning and swiftly cutting off their heads with a swing of her katana.

"Well alright!" I exclaimed, clapping my hands together. "Let's get your shit settled!"

Daryl laid underneath me, my hands on his chest while his hips thrusted up into me. His low grunts matched my soft whimpers as we moved in rhythm. He ran his hands up my back and pulled me down into a searing kiss. His scruffy beard tickled my chin and I let out a breathy giggle in his mouth.

He abruptly flipped us over and had me pinned underneath him. "Give you something to laugh about," he muttered, picking up his pace and making my back arch off the bed in pleasure. I moaned loudly and as soon as I thought I was going to explode that asshole fucking stopped.

"What. The. Fuck?" I growled.

"Beg."

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

"Nope. You wanna laugh while we're having sex now you gotta beg for it." Daryl slid the tip of himself inside me, stopping there. He stuck his thumb in his mouth and pressed it against my sensitive clit, making me hiss.

"Daryl!" I whined. "Just fuck me!...please."

He seemed to consider this for a second, before he roughly slammed himself back inside me. He gripped my hair in his hand and pulled my head back to nip at my neck. Fucking A, who would've thought Daryl the virgin Dixon would be this good at sex?

When we both reached our peaks we lay together, my head on his chest and his arm around my back. Thankfully, I got some condoms off of Maggie so we didn't have to worry about a second pregnant woman. If we could find a pharmacy I'd get some birth control, but right now the condoms would have to do.

As we lay there I thought about our situation and I laughed lightly. Daryl shifted, his cheek pressing against my head as he tried to look at me. He grunted, and I took this as him asking what I was laughing at. "It's funny…I don't know, I was just thinking that if the whole end of the world hadn't happened we never would have met."

He was silent for a moment, pulling me a bit closer to him. "Yeah, but even if we did somehow meet you wouldn't want me anyway."

I placed my chin on his chest so I could get a better look at him. He was staring at the ceiling. "And why's that?"

"Famous rich girl like you would never go for a guy like me."

I huffed and put my hands on the mattress on either side of his head, pushing myself up so I was leaning over him and looking him right in the eye. "You need to stop selling yourself short so much. If I like you now, why wouldn't I have liked you then? Money and fame didn't mean shit to me. The only thing that mattered was that I was doing what I loved with the people I loved. I'm still the same crazy little bitch I was before the world ended, and that's it."

Daryl shrugged. "Still, you wouldn't need me if you had all that."

I rolled my eyes and laid back down, facing away from him. "Why do you never listen to me? Besides, that lifestyle doesn't mean shit unless you got someone to share it with. Now shut up and spoon with me."

He let out a small chuckle and wrapped an arm around my waist, the large bicep engulfing my small frame. I was so content right now. Everything seemed good…_too_ good. Finding the prison, Andrea, the food, Daryl. It was perfect.

But I couldn't help but feel that it was just the calm before.

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><p><strong>There you go! Again, sorry for the shittyness. It's 1am and I have school and work tomorrow. Kicking my damn ass. But from here on out it's gonna be action action action! So stick around! Except I don't know when that'll be. School ends in a week so hopefully then because I'll have more free time woo!<strong>

**Hope you liked it and don't be afraid to review!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Sorry again! I wanted to get this up sooner but I suck. Plus, the last chapter only got ONE measly review (from the lovely EmilyEverlasting), which was a bit disheartening to say the least. I mean it was a bit more of a filler chapter, but still. I can see the number of hits I get so I know a lot more people read it! So leave a damn review will you? Stop creeping in the shadows!**

**Anyway, I think you guys will like the end of this! And if you do, review about it! Please?**

**ENJOY!**

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><p>Weeks went by at the prison. It seemed as though things were slowly returning to normal…or as normal as they could be. We found an abandoned mini-mall close to the prison and were able to get back clothes and other personal items we'd lost at the farm. The prison was still "stocked out the ass" with food so luckily it didn't look like we'd have to worry about that for a while. It was also stocked with other useful shit too. There were plenty of abandoned cars that we could use, working showers, a generator so we could sometimes have actual electricity, and even some kick-ass riot suits Glenn had found that protected against walker bites.<p>

It was getting colder, but in this part of the south "colder" meant it was really like 50 degrees, which was perfectly fine for me. Nights could get down to the low 30's, but I was still better off than the rest of the group. Spending twenty years in New England toughened me up to cold weather I guess.

Everyone seemed to be getting along well with the newer additions to our group, except Lori, who was still wary of them because they were "hardened criminals". I didn't think they were that bad. Dexter and Andrew kept to themselves a lot, and if I didn't know any better I'd say they were gay. Axel was hilarious, and it looked like he was the group favorite. Thomas was the only one I still didn't trust. I could tell Daryl didn't like him either. He spent too much time with Carol for our liking. I even went to her and told her something about him seemed off, but she wasn't having it. Daryl told me her husband was an abusive asshole, so I'm assuming she likes Thomas because he's the opposite. And Sophia seemed to like him too. There was just something about him that didn't sit well, and I needed to find out what it was.

Another awesome thing was that I got to reunite with my old pal Michonne, who I was currently playing basketball with. Well, she was playing—and kicking my ass—I was just kind of jumping around like a fool. "Sooo, what's the deal with you and T-Dog?" I asked, knowing that she would falter.

And I was right. She paused just long enough for me to smack the ball out of her hands and shoot. I missed. "Nice try," she laughed. "And nothing. Well, we're a little more than nothing I guess. I don't really want to call it anything right now."

I went to shoot again, but she easily snatched the ball in mid-air and dribbled around me. "I think you'd be good together. I love T, he's my dude! But I know what you mean. Shit, Daryl fucking hated me when I first went after him."

Michonne easily dodged my attempt to steal the ball and shot another basket. We weren't even keeping track anymore because she was obviously way ahead of me. "I can definitely see that. He seems a little rough around the edges. I'm surprised he even puts up with you at all."

"Ha ha," I replied sarcastically. "I knew I'd get to him eventually. No one can resist the charms of Kat Williams." I put my hand on my hip and flipped my ponytail over my shoulder, striking a mock pose.

Michonne took this opportunity to shoot another basket. "Oh I'm sure they can't Miss Famous. Now why don't you actually play this damn game? I feel like I'm playing a middle-schooler."

I rolled my eyes at her. "Fuck you I quit. Basketball is the worst sport anyway."

"You're just mad because—" Suddenly she stopped, straightening up and staring into the distance. "Kat…am I seeing things?" I whirled around, expecting to see and army of walkers or something similar, but what I saw had my jaw practically drop to the ground.

There was a helicopter flying in the distance.

"Holy shit!" I exclaimed. "Do you think it's military or something?"

"I don't know," she answered, pointing at it. "But look at the smoke coming out of it! It's gonna crash!"

We watched in silence as the helicopter spun out of control and disappeared somewhere in the trees. "Come on, Daryl and Rick are out there siphoning gas, they must've seen it too!"

We ran inside as fast as we could to get our weapons from our cells. I secured my swords around my waist but left my guns behind because I was short on ammo. Before I left I took the front part of my hair out of its ponytail and pinned it up into a large "bump" style. I grabbed my small switchblade and slid it into my hair, positioning it so it was held in place by the bobby-pins. It was small, only about three inches, but it could obviously do some damage if you stabbed someone enough times. And it was the perfect size to conceal in my giant hair. Who would ever expect that, right?

I ran out of my cell and met Michonne in the hallway. We exited the prison where Daryl was talking to Glenn hurriedly; telling him Rick was getting a car they could take out to see if there were any survivors.

"We saw it too," I jumped in. "We're coming."

"No you ain't. These people could be dangerous," Daryl argued.

"Yeah, which means just you and Rick would be in trouble. You need us. Deal with it." I pushed past him and he mumbled something incoherent.

Rick pulled up in front of us in a mini-van, and I hopped in the back with Michonne and Daryl took the passenger's side. Rick hit the gas and we took off quickly down the road, following the trail of smoke rising out of the woods where the copter went down. "We've got about half a tank of gas," he said. "Should be enough to get us there and back."

"Yeah, but look," Daryl said, pointing toward the smoke, which was now to our left. "We can't take this road anymore; it's not going where we need to be."

Rick cursed swiftly turned off the road and onto the grass, rolling over a bump and making Michonne hit her head on the roof of the car. "This is going to be fun," she muttered, rubbing her head.

We were only driving for a couple minutes when we came to a small, broken down fence. Rick slowed down to get around it but the car suddenly stopped. Rick cursed and kept hitting the gas, but nothing happened. We all got out of the car to see that it had gotten stuck in the mud. I groaned. "Well, looks like we're walking from here."

"Shouldn't be too hard," Daryl commented, shouldering his crossbow. I didn't notice it before but he and Rick were both completely clad in riot gear. "What we should be worried about is what's in those woods. Stay alert. We should smell them before they're close enough."

The two men led the way into the woods with me and Michonne taking up the rear. The first zombie appeared from behind a tree and Michonne sliced its head off without batting an eyelash. I had my own swords out and ready for anything that showed up on my side.

We walked in silence, taking out a few more zombies until we reached a small incline. The helicopter was at the bottom, lying on its side in a dried up creek bed. It was impossible to tell what caused the crash. My first guess would be that maybe someone inside had turned, but there was no one around.

I voiced my concerns as we started down the hill and Daryl stopped, squinting at the ground. "No, there were people here. Look. There's a shit-ton of footprints."

He was right. There were dozens of footprints littering the ground around the helicopter. "Jesus. So that means…" I trailed off, looking at my comrades.

"It means," Rick started, a hard look on his face, "whoever was in this helicopter—someone took them. Someone who was _closer_ than we were."

Silence washed over us, everyone letting the information sink in. There were more people out there, not far from where we were. How many of them were there? Judging from the prints there had to be quite a few. But the real question was what were they like. Could we trust them? I guess we were going to find out.

We jogged up the creek bed, following the footprints to the edge of the trees. There were tire tracks leading out of the grass and onto the road. "So, what's the plan?" Michonne asked.

Rick placed his hands on his hips, his "authoritative" stance. "As much as I hate the idea of leaving everyone to worry I think we should go through with this. It's almost dark, and these people might be closer than the prison. Hell, maybe they'll even drive us back there tonight."

None of us objected. It seemed alright enough. These people had cars and shelter wherever they were. The only thing I was worried about is how they would act towards us. But I mean, they saved whoever was in the helicopter, so they couldn't be that bad, right?

We walked along the road in the direction the tracks were going, keeping quiet and alert. My eyes scanned the trees for any movement, but I couldn't see any. The darkness wasn't helping. I could make out something up ahead, but it wasn't a walker. It was a road sign. There were three town names on the sign, the closest one being a place called Woodbury.

Daryl nodded toward the sign. "My guess is they're at Woodbury, maybe holed up somewhere. Let's keep moving before the walkers catch up."

At his last statement I whirled around to face him. "What? What walkers? I don't see or hear any."

"You ain't listening hard enough. There's a dozen, maybe more of them there." He continued walking, the rest of us following at a slightly quicker pace. "We pass them without noticing, but they notice, and they follow."

I snorted. "Well thanks for mentioning that handy bit of information."

He shrugged. "Guess I forgot you ain't no hunter. They're slower than us, so the longer we walk the further away they'll be, but there will be more by the time we get there."

"And here I was thinking we were safe for once. Sill me." I retorted, slapping a hand to my forehead. Michonne chuckled and patted my shoulder comfortingly.

We kept our hastened pace and after maybe ten minutes we reached a sign saying "Welcome to Woodbury". It looked just like every other town did. Abandoned. Trash littered the streets and I couldn't see a single soul around.

"Place is dead," I pointed out. There was a McDonald's up ahead and I wished so badly I could have some. Fuck, McDonald's could make anything better.

"We can't go back now," Daryl said, glancing behind us. "Too many walkers on our tail. Some are as close as twenty steps."

"Shit," Rick grunted. "Can you tell how far apart they are? Maybe we could grab one fast enough and rub some parts on us to make it back to the prison."

Before Daryl could answer a blinding light shown down on us. I could hear someone screaming at us to get on the ground so they didn't shoot us. I dropped down and covered my head, and I felt Daryl throw his arm across me. I could hear gunshots and bodies hitting the ground. When the firing ended Daryl hauled me up and I heard more screaming.

"Now walk toward the light before any more biters catch up to you! NOW!"

I shielded my eyes with my hand and stumbled forward as we were hustled behind a large wall. There were two army style cars with men on top holding large spotlights. The men on the ground with us started to strip us of our weapons. I tried to keep my swords but Rick stopped me. "It doesn't look like we have much of a choice," he said.

I begrudgingly let the douchebag take my swords and I could see the outline of a another man coming toward us. I couldn't tell what he looked like because of the fucking bright as hell lights they kept on us. I was squinting, trying to see his face when a raspy voice I assumed to be his called out to us.

"Well, looky here! If it ain't my baby brother!"

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><p><strong>WHO COULD IT BE? You obviously know. So I know I promised action and there wasn't much here, BUT starting with the next chapter and there on out there will be lots of it! I just wanted to leave this off at a cliffhanger hehe. And we will learn more about Kat's past! I'm excited, so you should be too!<strong>

**As always I hope you enjoyed and please review! It'll get me motivated!**


	18. Chapter 18

**I AM SO SORRY! Holy shit. Work has literally been kicking my ass for the past month and every time I wanted to write I was just too tired. I seriously have been telling myself "I'll write tomorrow" for the past two weeks. But FINALLY I am back! I really hope you guys are still with me! The lack of reviews on the last two chapters is a bit disheartening but I promise I'm gonna try and update faster now! From here on out it's ACTION, ACTION, ACTION!**

**ENJOY!**

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><p>"Merle?"<p>

"Well who else would it be, little brother?" A large man strode forward, his muscled arms outstretched in greeting.

So this was the famous Merle. He sauntered towards us arrogantly, a large grin on his face. His build was certainly intimidating; he was a good deal bigger than Daryl, who was pretty big. On his right arm was a weird contraption that was attached to a machete. I guess that's how he replaced his hand. Despite his menacing appearance his face looked haggard and worn. His cropped blonde hair was matted and dirty and there were large bags under his blue eyes.

Merle stopped in front of us and his gaze hardened when he noticed Rick. He waved his machete-stump in a mock greeting. "Can't say hi, Officer Friendly?"

I exchanged a wary look with Michonne and Rick clenched his jaw. "Hello, Merle."

"Now that's more like it!" Merle exclaimed. "And who are these two fine pieces of ass?" His eyes trailed over me and Michonne hungrily, and I clenched my fists to keep from swinging at him. I could already see why no one in the group liked him.

Luckily Daryl stepped forward to intervene. "Merle, what the fuck are you doing here? How did you get here?"

Before Merle could answer another voice joined in the conversation. "Now, now, there'll be plenty of time for stories later."

A second man came forward, flanked by a third. The one who spoke was tall and lean, nothing on Merle. He had black hair down to his shoulders and a thin mustache that combined with his beard. He was clearly the leader of whatever this little group was, but something about him seemed off. I never did trust men with that ugly mustache-beard thing.

"Merle and Martinez, if you'll join me, I want to give these folks a tour myself. The rest of you stay here and make sure none of those biters come anywhere near this wall."

"Yes, sir, Governor," the one named Martinez answered and I raised an eyebrow. _Governor_? Martinez ushered us forward, and we followed the "Governor". He and Merle took up the rear, seeming to be there just to keep us in line. I noticed Daryl keep glancing back at his brother, but he didn't say anything.

"Governor?" Rick asked, obviously thinking the same thing I was.

The Governor grinned. "I wear that title with a smile. It's more of a joke than anything. Always wanted to be a governor, so I thought fuck it, who's here to say otherwise?" I narrowed my eyes at this. That statement made it seem like he was one of those people that wouldn't hesitate to do whatever the fuck he wanted, no matter what it was. Daryl shot me a look as he continued talking to Rick. "So, stranger, what's your story?"

"No story," Michonne interrupted. "We've been traveling since the turn. Saw the helicopter and were close enough to investigate. Just not closer than _you_, right?" I knew what she was doing, and it was smart. She didn't trust this guy either.

The Governor turned to look at her over his shoulder. "Believe I was talking to the man here, ma'am. Hope you understand," he said rudely. Michonne glared at him and I saw her fists clench at her sides. Merle snickered behind us.

"That's our story," Rick said quickly. "Shit hit the fan and we've been walking ever since. What about you? You got a couple blocks fenced off? That's nice."

The Governor went on to explain about their living situation, how they found an abandoned guard station nearby that was full of supplies. They fenced of four blocks so far and had about forty people living there. While Rick kept the Governor busy talking Michonne, Daryl, and I surveyed the area. I found it strange that I saw no people out, only the occasional guard stationed on the wall. I thought maybe it was because it was nighttime, but I felt like I could hear distant cheering somewhere. I told myself I was just going crazy, but Daryl was looking around and squinting slightly, as if he could hear it too.

That was when I noticed the bright lights up ahead, the Governor seemingly leading us to them. "That a baseball game or something?" Daryl asked gruffly.

Merle laughed loudly and clapped his brother on the back, speaking for the first time since we left the entrance. "Ain't no damn ball game, Darylina! There's a fight tonight!"

I shared an uneasy look with Michonne. The lights got brighter as we came up to the fenced off area, and I noticed it was an old dirt racing track. The shocking part was that there were walkers chained up around it. Maybe fifteen of them, attached to poles stuck in the ground. "What the fuck?" I muttered, my eyes going wide.

The Governor led us up some stairs on the side of the bleachers and gestured to the lights. "Curious about the electricity? Fucking rednecks loved their dirt racing so much they had a big ass generator installed, that way their night races wouldn't be interrupted by power failure." We entered a door that said "PRIVATE" on it. "Best seat in the house."

"So what, you make the zombies fight each other?" I asked.

"A biter fight ain't no kind of entertainment. We get real live people going into the arena. Two enter, they beat the hell out of each other and put on a show. The biters are just extra motivation."

"So let me get this straight," I said, pointing a finger at him. "You fence off this area, make it safe, and then cart in a bunch of walkers for entertainment? Doesn't seem real safe, Governor."

He shot me an annoyed look. "At first, yeah, we had a few accidents. But once we started feeding them they got a bit more docile. Not much of a threat now." The governor pointed at the door. "Merle, close that door please." Merle obeyed, and our only exit closed with a thud.

"Wait…you're feeding them?" Rick asked incredulously. "What the hell are you feeding them?"

I shifted uneasily as the Governor gave us a menacing smirk. "Well stranger, we're feeding them…strangers."

In a flash we were surrounded. Martinez aimed his guns at Michonne and Rick, and Merle trained his gun on me and kept his machete trained on Daryl. "What the fuck Merle?" he growled.

"Sorry, bro. Governor's orders." I scoffed. What a spineless piece of shit.

"So that's it then? You gonna feed us to your pet zombies?" Rick asked. "That what you did to the people in the helicopter?"

The Governor smiled and gestured out the glass windows. "Yeah. That couple is getting chopped up right now in preparation for the reward feast that'll go down after the fight."

"You sick fuck!" Michonne spat.

"Kindly shut the fuck up, sister," the Governor sneered through gritted teeth. "I'm sure we could get a couple bullets in you with no problem." The cheering outside got louder and he glanced out the windows. "Better wrap this up, the fight's starting. Now, the people in the helicopter were of no use to me, so they got fed to the biters. You, on the other hand, I think I can use."

"You might as well just kill us now," Rick challenged. "We don't have anything for you."

"I know your story was bullshit. You don't even have a bottle of water with you. You walked here, you must be somewhere close. A school, maybe a farm. I'm not from here, I don't know the area well, but I will get the information I need out of you."

"We're not going to tell you a fucking thing because there's nothing to tell!" Rick yelled angrily.

Before any of us could move Merle grabbed him and slammed his head down on the metal table in the room, his machete at the back of Rick's neck. Martinez stood in front of the rest of us, his guns trained on us.

"Now let's get some things straight," the Governor snarled, "You're going to tell me what I want to know. I've got the four of you; I can do all kinds of nasty things to you in front of each other. One of you will talk. Do I make myself clear?"

Rick glared at him as best he could from his position, and the Governor nodded at Merle. My eyes widened in horror when he brought his machete slamming down on Rick's hand, cutting it off. Rick screamed in agony as blood gushed from his severed wrist.

"What the fuck, Merle?" Daryl yelled at his brother.

Merle laughed merrily, reminding me of a psychopath. "Payback's a bitch ain't it Officer?"

I felt a few tears slip down my cheeks as Rick huffed in agony on the table. Martinez had his head turned toward them and Michonne took this chance to barrel past him and tackle the Governor. Martinez went to grab her and I made to go after him but Merle blocked my path. "I don't think so, little lady," he snarled. Daryl stared at him with his jaw set, probably not believing his own brother would do this to him.

Martinez was finally able to pull Michonne off the Governor, but not before she took a chunk of his ear with her. I fought the urge to gag as she spit it onto the ground. "I'll break this bitch's neck," Martinez hissed. "Just say the word, boss."

"No!" the Governor roared. "I don't want her to have a single bruise that doesn't come from me. The fight's over, when the crowd is gone put her in _the room_. Then take the other two and lock them up." He turned his gaze to Rick, who had passed out on the floor. "And help get our one-handed friend to the doctor before he bleeds to death."

Martinez went to grab Michonne and Merle roughly shoved me out the door. "Don't fucking touch her!" Daryl snapped.

Merle pointed his machete at my neck, most likely assuring I wouldn't try anything, as he slowly looked to his brother. "What'd you say to me?"

Daryl didn't say anything, but kept his jaw set and his chin up slightly.

Merle chuckled. "What, this your little girlfriend or something Darylina? Please, as if this hot little piece would ever think twice about you. She needs a real man like ol' Merle here, ain't that right darlin'?"

"Fuck you," I spat.

Fury flashed through his eyes, and he roughly grabbed my arm, pointing his machete at Daryl and making him walk ahead of us. "I'll make sure you regret that," he said lowly, giving me a look of anger mixed with lust.

I gave him a look of disgust and fake gagged. His grip tightened on my arm in response. I couldn't do anything as we reached a car garage, Merle pulling it up by a chain on the bottom. He shoved us inside and swiftly closed it again, glaring at us through the little window before turning away.

It was completely empty inside, and dark save for the moonlight coming through the window. Daryl sat against the far wall and pulled me down with him, wrapped an arm around my waist to bring me closer. "Your brother seems charming," I commented dryly.

He tensed slightly and relaxed again. "He's changed," he said quietly. "Merle was always a douchebag, but he'd never turn on his own blood."

I snorted lightly at that. Even thought I didn't know Merle before the outbreak I found it hard to believe Merle would ever care about anybody but himself. I had no doubts in my mind he'd turn on his brother if it meant saving his own sorry ass. I didn't say this to Daryl of course, I knew he'd refuse to believe it and get all pissy at me.

"Why don't you get some sleep," he said. "I'll stay up."

I didn't bother to argue with him. I rested my head on his shoulder and let my exhaustion take over.

I woke up to the loud sound of the garage door being opened. Sunlight streamed in and momentarily blinded me. It was obviously the next day, but I had no idea what time it was.

"Wake up princess," the Governor said happily. "I hope you had a nice rest, you're gonna need it." At his words Daryl's grip tightened on me, and my body tensed at his side. The Governor gave me a malicious smirk.

"You're going into the arena."

* * *

><p><strong>WOO! That Governor sure is an asshole, huh? Well like I said from here on out shit is gonna go DOWN so please stay with me! Also, forgive me if there's a lot of mistakes because I just wanted to get this out as fast as possible.<strong>

**I hoped you liked it and please review!**


	19. AN

Hey everyone, I'm so sorry but I've decided to discontinue this story. Obviously I've lost my muse for it, and I just don't feel like writing anymore. If anyone wants to pick it up and continue with your own ideas feel free (just make sure you let me know first). Thank you everyone who reviewed and stuck with this story the whole time. Maybe one day I'll get my inspiration back and continue, but right now it's done.


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